Bloodbeat (1983)

 The only Wisconsin based, Christmas time, supernatural, samurai, slasher film you'll ever need. Low budget and odd. Warning: flashing lights, deer hunting and psychic samurai sex. **

KIller Joe (2011)

 This Southern Gothic crime drama is the final (non documentary) film directed by the legendary William Friedkin. 'Killer Joe' is adapted by Tracey Letts from his stage play of the same name. Emile Hirsch and his father Thomas Hayden Church hire "Killer Joe" (Matthew McConaughey) a corrupt Dallas police detective who moonlights as a hit man, to kill their despised mother and ex wife respectively; this is in order to get the $50,000 in insurance money to be received by their sister/daughter Juno Temple, a flighty innocent with a sexual edge.

Many complications arise, Hirsch and Church are not too bright, Church's current wife Gina Gershon says it's not a good idea, the ex (who we only see briefly dead) turns out to have a boyfriend and Killer Joe embarks on a sexual relationship with Juno as "a retainer" until they get the money. Also, not everybody here is giving the straight story. Rated NC-17 for nudity and violence, this is by no means peak Friedkin, but it's still an involving 102 minutes. ***

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)

 Sweet family film expanded from the Obama era internet shorts created by actress/voice star Jenny Slate and her then husband Dean Fleischer Camp (both of whom apper in the film together and apper to be on rather friendly terms). Marcel (Slate), is a tiny, stop motion animated shell, who lives in an Air B&B with his grandmother Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini).

Marcel is befriended by Dean Fleischer Camp, a documentary film maker staying at the Air B&B after the breakup of his marriage. Dean interviews Marcel and posts the videos on YouTube, where they quickly become a viral sensation. Marcel uses this celebrity and the aid of Dean, his internet fans, and later 60 Minutes Leslie Stahl, in a quest to locate the missing rest of his family and friends, who he believes were accidentally packed away by a previous tenant. 

Again, this is surprisingly sweet, and with a timeless quality that should keep it forever fresh. A little melancholy and enderingly reflective, the film is a meditation on loss and the courage it takes face it. Highly recommended ***1/2

End of the Gun (2016)

 I don't blame Keoni Waxman's direction here, nor in the main do I blame the script co authored with Chuck Hustmyre. In fact if this same movie was made with a bigger budget, better acting, and 25 years earlier, it would probably be well remembered today. The bulk of the blame must go to producer/star Steven Segal who huskily, and with little effort goes through the motions in this Paris set caper film. It's hard to care about a film when the star dosen't. I did however enjoy looking at Jade Ewan. *1/2

Zodiac (2007)

 I saw most of this in 2007 at my brother's house. I arrived 15 -20 minutes into the movie. My niece was in a crib tucked back to where she couldn't see the screen, and I spent most of the movie watching her experimenting with standing up while holding onto the bars. Sweet memory for me. Anyway I'm glad I finally saw the whole thing, I enjoye journalistic investigation movies and this one is very solid (it's about the Zodiac murders in 60's/70's California). ***1/2

Fatal Attraction (1987)

 "Don't have an affair, she might be crazy and ruin your life." That's the message of 'Fatal Attraction', a film which unlike 'Basic Instinct', didn't live up to the hype. I found it mostly unpleasant. There was nobody I liked enough here to feel emotionally invested in. It probably didn't help that I don't find Glenn Close attractive, perhaps different casting there would have better kept my attention; which is no slight on Close's acting, she really went for it. **

Special Effects (1984)

 Zoë Lund leaves such a strong impression with so little screen time in 'Bad Lieutenant', then in Ms. 45 she plays a mute, so I wanted to see more of her acting. In 'Special Effects', a very Hitchcock infused thriller, Zoë's character gets killed off in the first 22 minutes of the movie, but she's back in a different form for the last 40ish percent of the film.  

Brad Rijn manages to track his run away wife to NYC after years of searching, he goes there with the intent of bringing her back to her son and home in Texas. She runs away from him, and goes to the home of a director acquaintance played by Eric Bogosian, who then kills her and dumps the body. Brad is the prime suspect, Bogosian bails him out on condition that he participate in a documentary movie he plans to make about the man's late wife. By chance Brad meets a woman who looks just like his late wife and is also played by Lund. Brad convinces Bogosian to hire her for the film, and boundaries of identity proceed to increasingly break down. 

Pretty trippy film when you get down to it. Lund does a number of accents in this film and none of them are great. Intentional? Rijn is pretty unmemorable but Bogosian enjoys chewing the scenery. It's Hitchcock meets De Palma meets Blow-Up***

Obvious Child (2014)

 Unusual romantic comedy staring Jenny Slate as an aspiring NYC based stand up comic, who unexpectedly falls for an earnest MBA grad from Vermont (a likable Jake Lacy). It's kind of like 'Knocked Up', only she ultimately chooses to have an abortion, and he supports her in this. The movie is not apologetic about it either, this is a very matter of fact pro-choice movie and yet it knows that in the romantic comedy context, this is bold and transgresive. Filled with likable but flawed characters, I found it to be an enjoyable movie, and with its approach to abortion, also thought provoking. ***

Basic Instinct (1992)

 A fairly large gap in my first hand cinema viewing knowledge; I knew 'Basic Instinct' from its once notorious reputation, but was still surprised how far it went. Good central performances, good atmosphere, solid tension, a well maintained sense of feeling off balance, and about a half dozen false endings. Also the sexual  explicitness of this film, still shocks.  ***1/2

Weapons (2025)

 I can not find/seem to have deleted my review of the movie Weapons. I'm not going to take alot of time and rewrite it, but I just want to say that I loved Weapons, it was the rare theatrical experience now days where I could come away with the reasuring knowledge that film can still produce something that really feels new. ****

Frankenstein (2025)

 I hadn't originally planed to see this theatrically, but I'm really glad I did. Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, in my opinion, is both the best cinematic version of the Frankenstein story, as well as my favorite new movie I've seen this year. This comes about through a number of factors. With my belated conversion to streaming services, I find there is not alot out there that seems worth the effort to see theatricaly. But this was ultimately able to intrigue me enough, especially given lackluster competition.

As a film this Frankenstein benefits from del Toro's direction, as well as a strong but (surprisingly for del Torro) not overdone aesthetic. Unlike most film adaptations, which focus on the middle of the story, del Toro sticks closer to the structure of the original novel and approaches Victor Frankenstein as a character that can't really be understood without understanding his strained relationship with his own father. He gives us a Frankenstein in which every major character has an unhealthy obsession, and in which the narrative can be viewed as the preparation of a cycle of family abuse. Also a great cast at top game, with Oscar Issac, Mia Goth and Jacob Elordi (who I was not familiar with) as standouts.There is also, flawed though it may be, my favorite ending to a Frankenstein story. ****

Millenium Actress (2001)

 The late Anime autor Satoshi Kon's film was inspired by the lives of two  popular 1950's Japanese actresses Hideko Takamine and Setsuko Hara. This  movie tells the story of the career of composite actress Chiyoko Fujiwara from a child actress of the 1930's, to a major starlet of post war cinema, to decades of reclusive retirement starting in the 1960's.

 Chorizo tells her story to a documentary film crew at the turn of the millenium, and through animation that crew is depicted as interacting with and filming Chorizono over the course of her life. Throughlines include Chorizono's mother never fully approving of her daughter's life choices, a decades long riverly with another actress, a complicated relationship with a director she would later marry and divorce, and a life long obsession with a man she meet once as a teenager and who she would regard as the love of life. 

There is a lot I like here, but it never fully came together for me as I hopped, so I didn't get to the point where I could say I loved it. I liked it. Kon's next picture however, 2003's Toyko Godfathers, is a film I grew to love over my first viewing. There are four other films that Kon either wrote and/or directed before his death in 2010 from prostate cancer at the age of 46. I hope to get to those eventually. ***

Final Girls (2015)

 Five teenagers get sucked into a 1986 slasher movie in which one of the teenagers (Taissa Farmiga) late mother (Malin Akerman) played a supporting part, thus potential for closure. Moderately interesting meta concept, moderately well executed. This is the film on which actor Adam DeVane meet his future wife actress Chloe Bridges. **

Victim (1961)

 British film stars closeted gay actor Dirk Bogarde, as a closeted gay lawyer who runs up against a blackmail scheme. Relassed 6 years before the decriminalization of homosexuality in England, film does a fantastic job of walking a difficult line, largley sympathetic to its gay characters, seemingly every opinion on homosexualiy is expressed by at least one character over the course of the film. A social issues film to be sure, and a strong, but not over bearing one; it is also a first rate thriller, consistently engaging and had me guessing up until the end. I was super impressed with this, its reputation is deserved. ****

Fear City (1984)

 A psychotic starts cutting up, and later murdering strippers in NYC. Detective Billy De Williams is on the case, but will ex boxer Tom Berenger beat him to the punch? Director Able Ferrara's neo-noir, errotic thriller is simultaneously weighty, gritty, and pretty silly. Despite some early pretensions, this is not an exploitative art movie, it's an arty explotation movie. Digest that and its an entertaining watch. Lots of nudity. A young Melanie Griffith  is Berenger's love interest. ***

Murder is My Beat (1955)

 When police detective Robert Shayne becomes convinced that attractive blond Barbra Payton didn't commit the murder she's been convicted of, he takes her on the lamb to prove her innocence. Edger G. Ulmer's direction elevates the bargen basement plot, but by the final third I was mostly on my phone. Film contains a night time fight in a ceramics factory. **

The Apprentice (2024)

 Bio-pic examins how Donald Trump's mentorship by the infamous lawyer Roy Cohen, helped turned the little shit into an egonomical monster. Jeremy Strong is a suitably Machnivallian Cohen, while Sebastian Stan gives an impressive, at times surprisingly subtle, and even empathetic portrait of Donald J. Tump. ***1/2

The Muthers (1976)

 Explotation flick about two black, female pirates, who infiltrate a slave labor camp in the Philippines. It's okay. **

Ms .45 (1981)

 The hauntingly beautiful and ill fated (dead of congestive heart failure at the age of 37) Zoë Lund plays a mute seamstress who becomes a vigilante after suffering not one, but two rapes on the same day. Dark underground thriller is a more artful 'Death Wish', ablely helmed by the great Able Ferrara. ***1/2

No Questions Asked (1951)

 Largley by accident, lawyer Barry Sullivan ends up becoming a middle man, negotiating the return of stolen goods between the mob and insurance companies. Future U.S. Senator George Murphy is the police detective out to put a stop to this scheme, while Arlene Dahl and Jean Hagen form a love triangle with Sullivan. Rather good actually, though a cop out with the ending makes me wish the film had stopped 60 to 90 seconds earlier; Sullivan should have died, not revived at the last minute. ***

Mystery Street (1950)

 Ricardo Montalbon is strangly cast as a Boston police detective on the case of a skeleton washed up on Cape Cod. The movie wants to be a kind of proto CSI, with emphasis on the lastest Truman era developments in forensic science. **1/2

Roadblock (1951)

 I start Noirvember with this competent B-picture about honest insurance investigator Charles McGraw, who reluctantly gets involved with criminals in order to finance the lifestyle desired by his dream girl Joan Dixon. In true film noir irony, Joan really loves Charles even if he dosen't have much money. I liked the two lesser known leads, the film is an approate mix of melodrama and procedural, with a legitimately exciting ending featuring a chase sequence down the dry LA Riverbend, one of the first movies to use that as a filming location. When the couples flight encounters rain and turbulence early in the story I knew they'd be okay, because a point is made that they are flying TWA, the airline owned by then RKO owner Howard Hughes. **1/2

From Beyond (1986)

 Another Lovecraft adaptation, 'From Beyond' was released the year after (the better known) 'The Re-Animator', with the same writer, same director, and same leads (Jeffrey Combs & Barbra Crampton). The scale is cut back but the effects have noticeably improved; losser, less funny, but sexier. This is my preferred of the two. Ken Foree is a welcome addition to the cast. ***

The Re-Animator (1985)

 Adapted from a H. P. Lovecraft story, 'The Re-Animator' is a cult favorite horror comedy in which medical student Jeffrey Combs develops an injectable substance that can resurrect the dead, but at best with mixed results, they tend to come back rather agreesive (think 'Pet Semitary'). Gore and boob's promised and delivered with some intelligence and flair, as well as an "off" sense of humor. ***

Psycho Goreman (2020)

 'Psycho Goremam' is a very Canadian horror comedy about a pre adolescent suburban girl who gains total control over the actions of a genocidel alien warlord, that she and her brother dig up in the backyard and name Psycho Goreman. This is better in concept then it is in execution, though it has its moments. My favorite aspect of the film is its setting up arcs for its characters but intentionally not completing them. The film teases that it is supposed to say something, but by the time the father has occasion to pronounce "we really learned something today" he very quickly confesses that he's not sure what exactly that is. **

Cat People (1982)

 Paul Schrader's reimagining of Val Lewton's classic 1942 low-budget, minimalist B horror picture is mystical, erotic, violent and kind of hypnotic. Nastassja Kinski has lived in foster homes since the death of her parents, circus lion tammers, at the age 4. She is contacted by her six year older brother Malcom McDowell, and invited to visit him at his home in New Orleans. Shortly after her arrival Malcom disappears for days, coinciding with the local zoo procuring a black panther from a shady motel where it almost killed a prostitute. Nastassja is drawn to the animal and also begins a romantic relationship with the zoo's curator John Heard. In broad stokes where this is going is kinda obvious, but in its particulars rather surprising. A moody piece, with excellent New Orleans atmosphere and a cast full of recognizable faces, Ed Begley Jr., Ruby Dee, Annette O'Toole, John Larroquette, ect. This took a bit to pull me in, but I stuck with it and am glad I did. ***

Beware! The Blob (1972)

 'Beware! The Blob' is a kinda, sorta sequel to the 1958 monster classic 'The Blob'; kinda, sorta because a character in this movie watches the original movie on TV. But continuity is not much of a concern here; Larry Hagman, then best known as the male lead in 'I Dream of Genie', directs this lose, semi-improvised, doubtless drug infused, hippie style romp. The blob attacking a bowling alley at the end of the film proves a neat idea, but the best part of the film is all the cameo appearances, Dick Van Patten, Cindy Williams, Carol Lynley, Burgess Meredith and more just show up, often for a single scene. This movie is not very good, but it is fun to watch. **

Companion (2025)

On a weekend vacation to visit her boyfriend Jack Quaid's friends, Sophie Thatcher learns that she is not a human like she thought she was, but rather a commercialy avilable romantic substitute android known as a 'Companion'. It's a rough weekend, but I can't say much more about that without spoilers. Intriguing premise unevenly rendered. **1/2

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

 I skipped 'Jason Goes to Hell' and 'Jason X' because neither of those were free on any streaming service I subscribe too. 'Freddy Vs Jason' might well be the best Jason movie, principly because it is also a middle tier Nightmare on Elm Street movie. The paring was destined to be after New Line Cinema bought the "Jason" character from Paramount, it went through development hell but the finished product is probably as good a movie as you could make from that premise. It feels like Freddy gets a little more screen time then Jason, though it's probably pretty close to even. The films story is unusually strong for a Jason movie, and decent for a Freddy film. The lovely and often besweaterd Monica Keena is the female lead, Jason (irony) Ritter is the male lead, this movie came out about a month before the sudden death of his father John Ritter. I can can hardly believe this, but I think I'm gonna give it ***

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

 This should really be called 'Jason Goes to Manhattan' because he spends most of the movie on high school graduation cruse to NYC killing young people; this is after he is resurrected by an underwater electrical accident. More wasted opertunites then usual, for a franchise that likes waisting opertunites. *

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

 Basically this Jason vs. Carrie, the masked killer accidentally raised from the dead by a young woman with telekentic powers (Lar Park Lincoln, who died earlier this year), who of course is the only person who can defeat him. Jason ends this film once again dead at the bottom of Crystal Lake. *1/2

Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

 Throwing out everything after Halloween 2 continuity wise, this is a sort of Halloween 3. Set twenty years later as the subtitle says, this is a boon for marketing, a sort of resurrection, which will be the title of the next movie. Laurie Strode is back, she's changed her name and gone into witness protection. Consistent with the characters already established academic orientation, two decades on finds her the head mistress of a California private school, divorced, and with a son who just turned 17, Josh Hartnett with an "Introducing" credit.

Like the actor who played him Dr. Loomis has died. Mike Meyers, (who has been doing who knows what for twenty years) breaks into the home of the Doctors assistant, kills her and two local boys, including Jospeh Gordan-Leavitt, and steals information as to his sister's wearabouts. Right on time he shows up for Halloween and the private school serves as the primary location for the killing spree. Adam Arkin is Laurie's love interest, Michelle Williams is Josh's. Janet Leigh is here as an Easter egg and LL Cool J is a security guard with aspirations to be a romance novelist. The film is pretty decent, especially when compared to its immediate predecessors, but by its very nature a derivative product. **

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

 This might actually be the best one; as Jay Baumen says it "feels like a real movie." Tommy Jarvis is back, though we are now on the 3rd actor playing him. Still plagued by visions of Jason, Tommy and friend dig him up o burn the body, but they accidentally end up bringing him back to life. We learn that for PR reasons Crystal Lake has changed its name to Forrest Green, but it will be back to Crystal Lake by the next movie. We have the return of camp councilors as victims, and we have actual campers this time, children, though none of them die. We also have a sheriff who thinks Tommy Jarvis is behind all the mayhem, though he comes to know better by the time he dies. Movie ends with Jason tied to a rock at the bottom of the lake. **1/2

The Crimson Cult aka Curse of the Crimson Alter (1968)

 A grown man searching for his lost brother, traces his movements to a rural English village; the peculiarities of whose history has lead to odd rituals both public and private. Featuring a hunched back Micheal Gough, Barbara Steele in greenface, a meta appearance by a dying Boris Karloff, and of course Christopher Lee. This was sold to me as H P Lovecraft inspired, however I found there to be more of the spirit of two other roughly contemporary Christopher Lee films here (The Devil Rides Out, The Wickerman) then strong Lovecraftian vibes, not that those are totally absent. **

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

 Tommy goes to a troubled youth camp. A semi random ax murder at the begging is not committed by the copy cat killer who will do the bulk of this movies killings. Yep "Jason" isn't actually in this one. The camp kids are mostly pretty one note characterizations. Film is kind of a satire of its self. Broad. Meta. *

The Zero Theorem (2013)

 A Terry Gilliam dystopia satire, not on the level of 'Brazil' or 'Twelve Monkeys'; he plays it safe here, its a very familiar movie. Does admirable with its limited budget. Christoph Waltz is good in this. David Thewlis appropriately used, Matt Damon miss cast, and Tilda Swinton somewhere in between. About once a decade Melanie Thierry shows up in a movie and reminds you how incredibly beautiful she is. **

Friday the 13th Part 4 aka Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

 I rewatched the first 3 films before proceeding to franchise entries I had not seen. I find #4 to be easily the best of the films so far. It's not based around a summer camp, there is more diversity to the kinds of characters here, a wider range of ages. This is the introduction of the character Tommy,  who will become the closest to a real mortal nemesis that I suspect Jason ever gets. Jason dies at the end. **1/2

The Dunwich Horror (1970)

 Adaptation of H P Lovecraft's most famous story.

Produced by Roger Corman. This is  a story that should be made with a large special effects budget, which this movie does not have. They do what they can principly with lighting effects.

Given a contemporary setting instead of the 1910's - 1920's setting of the original story. I believe this to be less effective, less creepy.

A rare lead role for Dean Stockwell, though he is technically the villian. Sandra Dee plays his love interest. I don't get what she sees in him. Sam Jaffe plays Stockwell's dad, he is 45 years older.

This was one of Ed Bailey's last roles. He died about 3 months after release.

I spotted a young Talia Shire as the secretary for a rural Massachusetts doctor.

I found trivia for this movie to be more interesting then the movie its self.

*

One Battle After Another (2025)

 The newest Paul Thomas Anderson movie 'One Battle After Another' is the directors second Thomas Pynchon adaptation, and like 'Inherent Vice' it dosen't totally come together. It's like a movie from an alternate universe, as adapting Pynchon's 1990 novel about an ex revolutionary whose teenaged daughter's life is threatened by an old adversary, this just feels off with a contemporary setting. 

Featuring a large and talented cast and a bigger then average budget for a PTA production, owing to the presence of Leonardo DiCapiro in the lead. It's uneven. I wasn't expecting the films prolonged backstory section, the tone is all over the place and I can't decide how much of Sean Penn's performance was meant to be taken seriously. This wants to be a thinking mans action movie, and has a few solid sequences in that vain, as well as some fun characters, with Benico del Torro at the top of that list. It's politics are both muddled and hit you over the head obvious; had this movies tired revolutionaries been Right wing instead of Left wing...

Still so much is happening so fast that you don't get much time to reflect as the movie progresses. I enjoyed watching 'One Battle After Another' on the big screen, that's the way to see it, but I don't know how rewatchable it will prove to be: it could be a joy or it could be a drag, odds seem 50/50, don't know which elements will win out. For now however I'm giving it ***

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

 Adapted from the novel series 'The Thursday Murder Club' concerns a group of pensioners at an upscale retirement community  who meet once a week to go over the unsolved cases of a fellow resident, now comatose. One of the cases they examin proves to hit close to home. Solid cast, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley and Pierce Brosnan. This plays like British TV, so as a movie **

Primal Fear (1996)

 Hot shot lawyer Richard Gere takes on a pro bono case defending traumatized young man Edward Norton who has been accused of murdering a Catholic Bishop. Strong cast includes Laura Linney, Maura Tierny, Francis McDormand, John Mahoney and Andre Braugher. Very solid, there are aspects to the ending which I don't think would play as well today, but for 1996 are effective. ***1/2

Howling III (1987)

 The weirdness of 'Howling III' outweighs its badness, resulting in a strangley watchable movie whose surprisingly drawn out coda is one of the oddest I've seen in film. The plot concerns a University professor, a B movie production, the president of the United States, a defecting Soviet ballerina and a colony of Australian werewolfs. **

Deadlier then the Male (1967)

 One of the better James Bond imitators of the 1960's. The film thankfully doesn't play as satire or broad comedy, but strikes a tone very comparable to the James Bond movies of its era. Existing character Bulldog Drummond is appropriated for the film as a troubleshooter for an international insurance company. Drummond (a pretty bland Richard Johnson) is investigating a scheme to manipulate stock prices by the well timed deaths of corporate executives. German Elka Sommer and Italin Syliva Kosina steal the show as a couple of sexy assassins.**1/2

Downhill Racer (1969)

 Minimalist character study stars Robert Redford as a rather self righteous skier, competing with the U.S. Ski Team at various European competitions. This is back when professional skiing was just starting to be commercialized in the United States. Surprisingly understated. Gene Hackman dependably good as the coach.***

Fist Fight (2017l

 A misunderstanding prompts history teacher Ice Cub to challenge English teacher Charlie Day to a fist fight on the last day of school. I always enjoy Charlie Day's line delivery, but there is not much to this weak comedy. *1/2

The Fallout (2021)

 Three vaugly acquainted students become emotionally linked after surviving a school shooting huddled in a bathroom stall together. 'The Fallout' never shows us the shooting, it focuses on the emotional impact and the various ways people cope with surviving a life threatening traumatic event.  Very good work from Jenna Ortega, you see a person changed and how difficult it can be to recover equilibrium. ***

Beaverly Hills Cop III (1994)

 Really horrible, Gene Siskel described the film as "Dismel", I concur. Lacking the playfully irreverent spirit of its predecessors. *

Beaverly Hills Cop Ii (1987)

 A worthy sequel, nearly as good as the original, though not quite. ***

Beaverly Hill's Cop (1984)

 A very solid 80's action-comdey that represents the high water mark for Eddy Murphy as a beloved personality. A straighter plot then I expected, good supporting cast. ***1/2

Y2K (2024)

 Kyle Mooney wanted to make a high school horror comedy built around a milleniaum party, so he did. This is not so much a send up, or a deconstruction of tropes, as an earnest, straight forward effort. It's okay. **

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

 Another high school movie of my high school years that I didn't see in high school. '10 Things' title isn't explained until the end of the movie. This is The Taming of the Schrew at a posh Seattle area high school. Julia Styles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordan-Leavitt, all good. Likable. ***

Money Plane (2020)

A very low budget caper movie about a heist of a casino in the sky. I have barley anything to say about it; it's not good, I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. Lawful neutral I guess. *1/ 2

She's All That (1999)

 File this under high school movies of my high school years that I didn't see while in high school. An "ugly duckling" story, Rachael Leigh Cook is adorable and Freddie Prinze Jr surprisingly likeable; Rory Culkin is in this too. Rather basic in story, but reasonably well handled in execution. **1/2

Electrick Children (2012)

 15 year old Julia Garner is growing up in a polygamist family in contemporary southern Utah, when she becomes convinced that she has become miraculously impregnated after listing to rock and roll music for the first time on a blue cassette tape she found. Spurning a hastily arranged marriage Julia steals her father's pick up truck and heads for Las Vegas with the goal of finding the voice on the tape, who she believes to be the true father of her baby. While in sin city Julia falls in with Rory Culkin and a small group of music lovers. Strange and uneven, the film is carried by the performances of the two leads as well as Liam Aiken as Julia's half brother. **1/2 

The scenes at the polygamist community were filmed at the famously cinematic ghost town of Grafton, Utah.

The Last Seduction' (1994)

 'The Last Seduction' is an erotic thriller / neo-noir that shows Linda Fiorentino has more range then I would have expected. After stealing close to a million dollars from her crooked doctor husband (Bill Pullman), Linda takes on an assumed name and settles in a small upstate New York town to let temperatures cool down and gain a divorce. While there Linda is romanticly persued by a local insurance claims adjuster (Peter Berg) of limited prospects. However, Linda enjoys him sexually and gradually formulates other ways he could be useful to her. Unusual in haveing the Fem Fatal as the lead character, Fiorentino gives what is probably a career best performance; the film is consistently interesting and leaves you guessing. Going in I suspected there was a good chance I wouldn't finish it, but I just had to stick around and find out how it ended, I'm glad I did. Roger Ebert's 5th favorite film of 1994. ***1/2

Mother of Tears (2007)

 'Mother of Tears' is the final entry in director Dario Argento's 'Three Mothers trilogy, after 'Suspiria' (1977) and 'Inferno' (1980). 'Suspiria' is a masterpiece and 'Inferno' is strong, but 'Mother of Tears' was made 20 years too late. There are some interesting things in it but the execution feels low energy, it lacks the bite it needed and is a let down. For completists only I suspect. **

Feels Good Man (2020)

 San Francisco based artist Matt Furie created his "peaceful frog dude" character Pepe in the mid aughts and featured the stoner amphibian in his underground 'Boys Club' comics. Furie was mortified when his character was appropriated as a mascot for the alt right. This documentary covers Furie's creation and sanctioned uses of Pepe, the unlikely story of his characters use by the alt right and the legal actions he took to try and reclaim his creation. This documentary will forever be a useful media text for future generations to understand the very strange time in which we are now living. ***

Kinds of Kindness (2024)

Yorgos Lanthimos's (The Favorite; Poor Things) black comedy-drama anthology film about dysfunctional relationships, uses the same small cast including Emma Stone, William Dafoe and Jesse Plemons in all 3 of its stories. 

Story one has Plemons as an employee who let's his boss make all the decisions in his life, including the car he drives, the food he eats and the woman her marries. When after a decade Plemons refuses to carry out an order because it might kill someone, he quickly finds himself unable to function in life without boss Defoe's guidance. 

In story 2 Plemons is a cop whose wife Stone is lost at sea. When she is miraculously rescued Plemons becomes convinced she is an imposter and forces her to perform increasingly self destructive acts to prove her love. 

In story three Plemons and Stone are cult members tasked with seeking out their groups promised messiah. Stone, who left her husband and daughter to join the group, finds she can't keep herself from checking in on her loved ones. This threatens her good standing in the cult and her very sense of identity. 

These are kinds of narratives that seem more naturally suited to being short stories then a film, but they make for intriguing and at times unsettling viewing. Director Lanthimos cameos as the same minor character in all three stories. ***1/2 

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

 Critics and audiences loved Todd Phillips first Joker movie back in 2019; It's semi musical sequel was not well received. Centered around Arthur Flecks criminal trial for events in the first film, it is in essence a feature length critical deconstruction of its predecessor. It is the Seinfeld finale of DC movies, a surprisingly thoughtful troll. I had to watch it twice to digest it, but I'm coming out for it. ***

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

 The extremely low budget horror film which is largely credited with establishing the now ubiquitous "found footage" style of film making, 'The Blair Witch Project' became perhaps the greatest return on investment in the history of cinema, $248 million box office off a production cost of $60,000. Presented as a compliation of the "found" video footage of a team of three twenty-something film makers who.went missing in the Maryland woods in 1994 while making a short documentary on a (made up) local legend about a malevolent witch. This is a movie where seeing it now, a quarter century after it's release, one gets only a limited sense of the effect it had on Clinton era theater goers for whom this was something noval and new. It's still scary, or more accurately disconcerting now, the story is well told and the terror well solid, though we see really next to nothing. The mind is better at imaging horror then a made up film could ever be. ***1/2

Joe (1970)

 Rick Perlstein's book Nixonland makes extended reference to the 1970 film 'Joe' as a movie that avatars a kind of white rage at the culture change occurring in America at this time. Upper class Dennis Patrick's only child, played by Susan Sarandon in her film debut, lands in the hospital from a drug overdose courtesy of her drug pushing boyfriend Patrick McDermott. Dennis goes to the urban slum where his daughter lived with her boyfriend to collect her stuff, there he has a confrontation with the boyfriend and accidentally kills him. A panicked Dennis does a pretty good job covering his tracks the heads to a nearby bar for a drink and to collect his bearings.

At the bar Dennis meets Joe, played memorably by Peter Boyle. Joe is an angry and resentful blue collar type who enjoys monologeing about his disgust at the state of the world. In there conversation Dennis let's slip what he had done, then trys to pass it off as a joke. Later when he sees a report on TV about the death of a young drug pusher in the area and reads more about it in the newspaper, Joe puts together that Dennis was the killer. He then tracks down Dennis who finds Joe dosen't want to blackmail him for money, but rather force him to become his friend. Dennis's wife and daughter also figure out what he has done, and while the wife is content to keep quite about it the daughter runs away. Joe then joins Dennis as they comb the city looking for Susan and have encounters with the subculture that they to varrying degrees despise. It dosen't end well.

A strong eviction of Nixon era culture war, I'm a little surprised that this film is largely forgotten, it's basic thesis taken up and subsumed by the better known Deathwish that came out a full four years later. ***1/2

Sinners (2025)

 Writer/director Ryan Coogler, best known for Black Panther and Creed, finally got big bucks for a wholly original project, and so far it's 2025's biggest hit not based on any existing IP. 'Sinners' takes structural que from Hitchcock's The Birds as its one kind of movie that is crashed into by another kind of movie mid way through. Set in the deep south of the 1930's the film starts as an ensemble melodrama in which Coogler muse Micheal B. Jordan plays twin brothers returning from working for Al Capon in the north to start a rural speakeasy for a black clientele. Various storylines are set up for roughly a dozen characters, then on opening night the club is besieged by vampires. And this works. Creatively reshuffling the story deck and used as means of commenting on the black experience in America. Nor is it particularly preachy in doing so. This is the kind of movie that raises hope that American films can still do unique and meaningful work in a crowed pleasing and money making manner. ***1/2

Superman (2025)

 When I saw Man of Steel in the theater back in 2013, I remember thinking that I'd probably end up seeing at least one more new Superman in the theater and now I have. James Gunn's Superman is perfectly fine. It felt more like a 'comic book movie' then the darker stuff that's been pretty consistent in DC productions since Tim Burtons Batman in 89. Lighter 'Silver Age' vibes that still avoids descending into camp ala 60's Batman. Solid, but Supehero fatigue is a real thing. I'm gonna be generous and give it ***, because I suspect this will age well. Haza to the lighter tone and good casting.

The Bone Collector (1999)

 Better then expected, with a 30% Rotten Tomatoes score I figured I'd just watch it until I got bored (had a backup movie ready for when that happened) but I didn't get bored. Solid thriller, I had some issues with the ending but strong lead performances from Denzel Washington and Angelena Jolie kept this average thriller engaging. ***

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)

 I stumbled across this, and knowing next to nothing about it I watched it. The word that kept coming to mind as I viewed was 'competent', this is a very competent (animated) Star Wars ripe off. The pacing is strong, I was seldom if ever bored. The characters worked as arc types, there were enough plot complications to keep things interesting, the animation style was just different enough. But ultimately this was empty calorie viewing, not so much a success as failing to make major mistakes. Still, I could watch it again. **1/2

Hello I Must Be Going (2012)

 Thirty-five year old Melanie Lynskey moves back in with her parents after her marriage breaks up. Aimless and miserable she finally finds someone who makes her feel loved in the form of 19 year old Christopher Abbott, the step son of her father's most important buisness client. Despite the risks the unlikely couple embark on a covert relationship, one with high stakes for both them and their families. Lynskey at her best. Good supporting work from Blyth Danner and Julie White as the couples mother's. *** 

The Naked Spur (1953)

 Anthony Mann directed Western has only five characters in it.  James Stewart is after a bounty, circumstances bring Ralph Meeker and Milliard Mitchell in as his assistants, together they apprehend outlaw Robert Ryan and the young woman (Janet Leigh) traveling with him. Psychological games are played, troubled pasts reviled, it's like a drawing room noir played out in an open wilderness. An a typical genra offering. ***

The Automatic Hate (2015)

 A Boston chief (Joseph Cross) learns he has family he never knew about after being contacted by his cousin (Adelaide Clemens, a tall, Australian version of Michelle Williams, a standout amongst a reasonably solid cast). The two team up, trying to solve the mystery of their fathers estrangement, while discovering an uncomfortable sexual attraction to each other. An unusual kinda film, I don't know what to compare it to. This movie is great with its employment of tension, I felt on edge and nervous throughout most of its running time, waiting for the other shoe to drop, anxious to learn the dark family secret. I thought the ending really worked. ***1/2

Nosferatu in Venice (1988)

 This is a kinda, sorta sequel to Herzog's Nosferatu, Klaus Kinski returns to the role, only the chronology of events here directly contradicts the earler film. Donald Pleasance and Christopher Plummer help with name recognition and financing, but not alot else; both characters prove pretty useless against the vampire threat, in fact Plummer's character packs up and leaves after a failed attempt, stating aloud it was hubris for him to have even tried. The narrative is confusing, it's a difficult film to summarize, action sequences and some generous nudity seek to distract from the nonsensicality of the film. A mess, awful in many ways, but a surprisingly watchable mishmash of tropes, ideas and performances. Still, this is a classicaly bad movie. *

28 Years Later (2025)

 Second sequel to Danny Boyle's 2002 film '28 Days Later', which arguable ignited (for better and worse) the zombie movie craze of the 2000's and 2010's. The start of a new trilogy of films, '28 Years Later' shows us a United Kingdom nearly 3 decades on from the events of the first film, quarantined, blockaded (by NATO?), home to small surviving settlements of the living and zombies who are starting to subdivide into different types, some of which are pretty smart. The main plot concerns a 12 year old boy trying to find help for his dying mother and a largely thriving community on a small island that becomes a peninsula at low tied. We also learn a bit about the wider world which has gone on to develop much as ours has, with smart phones and social media. Ralph Finnes plays a hermit doctor, probably the most interesting character in the movie. The films pretty good, has a few interesting ideas and a handful of likable characters. Well see how this goes. ***

Jolene (2008)

Credited as Jessica Chastain's film debut, 'Jolene' is probably largely responsible for her big break casting in 'The Help' as the characters are somewhat similar. Jolene has spent much of her life in abusive foster homes, before at age 15  marrying a nice and simple young man, at the arrangement of his uncle. It is not until later that the couple discover that the marriage was arranged to give the uncle sexual access to the teenager. This situation does not end well, the husband dead and the uncle in jail. Jolene flees South Carolina on an oddessy that will take her to Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma and finally California. Along the way she will be romaticly persued by a verity of men, only one of which is truly good to her. She learns and grows from a niave teenager to a self possessd young woman. I read a review blurb on this film that called it a mediocre movie with a good central performance, and I concure with that. **1/2

American Siege (2021)

 I bought this used Redbox DVD for a dollar knowing nothing about it save the title; once the disc loaded and I could see Bruce Willis's face on the DVD menu I knew a heck of a lot more about it. A widower recently released from prison, teams up with his late wife's sister and cousin to take a doctor hostage in a effort to learn the true cause of the lady's death, turns out she was involved with the illegal drug trade. Bruce Willis is the past his prime county sheriff (this movie is filmed and set in Georgia) who had largely turned a blind eye to the drug trade, as some prominent locals were heavily involved; with this hostage situation he sees a chance to redeem himself. Willis was in heavy mental decline at the time this movie was made, he often seems to not fully understand what is going on and half the time he's either sitting down or leaning against something. This movie is none to good, but for the most part technically competent. *

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

 Oscar winning documentary is a refreshingly different take on the nature film, one that actually got me emotionally invested in an Octopus. ***1/2

Jess and Moss (2011)

 Set in rural western Kentucky in the mid 1990s, 18 year old Jesse and 12 year old Moss are cousins, who spend a lazy summer exploring the kudzu infested forests and abandoned buildings of their neck of the woods. A series of vinyets, but you gradually learn more about the cousins home lives, each sad in their own way. Makes the most of a limited budget. **

Mad About Men (1954)

 This is a sequel to the 1948 mermaid comedy 'Miranda'. In this one Miranda takes the place of her identical human 4th cousin, a school teacher, and sets out to procure her a less boring man to replace a snooty fiance. Different enough from the original in plot, but much the same kind of humor. Margret Rutherford is the only returning actor save Glynis Johns. **

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

 Latest Wes Anderson movie exhibits its autors signature visual style, but benefits most from being focused on a strong central relationship. Andersons last couple of movies have been principly anthology or ensemble pieces, where as the dynamic between enigmatic businessman/criminal Benicio del Toro and his estranged daughter, a nun played by Kate Winslet's daughter Mia Threapelton, is a satisfying one harkening back to the directors early work. There is still a star studded supporting cast with Micheal Cera's entomology professor being the standout. The film holds plenty of long shoots with which to better enjoy the set design. As far as homoge and influences go, this reminds me alot of Orsons Wells 1950's production 'Mr. Arkadin', which is about (among other things) an international buisnessman/ criminals fraught relationship with his daughter. ***

Return to Paradise (1953)

 Wanderer Gary Cooper arrives on an isolated South Pacific island some time during the Hoover administration. He forcibly corrects the over reach of the resident missionary and ultimately falls in love with an island girl who dies shortly after giving birth to their daughter. Cooper leaves the girl with family friends and departs the island, not to return until the second World War, when now working for the U S Government he shows up to help the islands defenses and reconnects with his daughter (Roberta Haynes plays both mother and daughter). Mostly notable for its location filming, there is really not much to this movie, creatively or otherwise. *

Night Eats the World (2018)

 Made in English but shot and set in France, 'Night Eats the World' is a low budget-ish, largely minimalist zombie film. Getting in a fight at a party in his ex girlfriend's house, Anders Danielsen Lie decides to lock the door and sleep it out in a storage room. When he wakes up he finds that the zombie Apocalypse has arrived. Anders locks the doors to the fancy 6 story apartment house he finds himself in, kills or incapacitates the remaining zombies inside, and through prudent rationing manages to live quitley and securely for around 9 months, before another survivor comes a calling. Solid, underplayed, not particularly innovative (other then that these zombies are quite), a well handled reasonably entertaining picture that is also a rumination on loneliness. ***

Trancers 2 (1991)

 The entire original cast returns in this sequel that has so many logical problems, that I was disappointed I couldn't find an 'Everything wrong with Trancers II' video on YouTube. *

The Purchase Price (1932)

 Night club singer Barbara Stanwyck flees Montreal to escape her gangster boyfriend, by taking the place of a mail order bride and getting hitched to struggling North Dakota farmer George Brent. Film attempts to be timely but just isn't very good. *1/2

Miranda (1948)

 This is a British mermaid comedy. Vacationing doctor Griffith Jones falls into the ocean while fishing near Cornwall, he is rescued by beautiful mermaid Glynis Johns. Miranda the mermaid, who knows of the world chiefly through magazines pilfired from ships, gives the doc two options, keep her company in the air pockets of an underwater cave, or take her to London on a three week vacation. The doctor of course choses the latter, passing Miranda off as an invalid patient. Comic complications ensue keeping Miranda's mermaidness a secret, while she charms multiple men with her beauty and straight forward manner. Likable. The film has a transgressive coda that you wouldn't get from a production code bound American production of the time; Miranda's is successful in her true purpose in the city, landing a human baby daddy as mermen are ugly. ***

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)

 Not as good as many of it's predecessors, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, is an exposition heavy and messianic conclusion to the adventures of Ethan Hunt. There are some good set pieces, as one expects in these, and the feeling of impending doom is well realized (Ethan must prevent an evil AI from starting a nuclear war), but the plot is pretty silly as is Cruse's accent to a surprisingly literal Christ status, his beloved team becoming in effect his apostles. Some unexpected call backs to earler films, like 'No Time To Die' this film is very aware of its self as an end to a franchise. I was not awed. **1/2

Flow (2024)

 'Flow' is an Oscar nominated, dialogue free, Lithuanian computer animated film about a group of animals from diverse species who ban together to escape a flood. There is a real purity and simplicity to this story, as Cat ends up on a boat with Capybara, and is later joined by Lemur, Golden Retriever, Secretarybird and a number of other dogs. That these animals are native to different areas around the world makes it hard to hit on a location for the action; however this might be explained by the films apparently post apocalyptic setting, we see traces of abandoned human civilization, but never any humans. However these hinted at ideas don't detract from the main theme and story, as this assortment of critters gradually becomes it's own family or pack. A refreshing picture, very different from the usual animated fair. I low key loved this. ***

Joshy (2016)

 Given the way writer/director Jeff Baena died, his dark comedy about the aftermath of a suicide plays differently then it would have 9 years ago. Four months after his fiancee hangs herself with one of his belts, the friends of Joshy (Thomas Middleditch) decide to convert the cabin get away that was supposed to have been his batchelor party into an opertunity to cheer him up; to mixed results. Mixed results applies to the film as well, though for the most part it does a pretty good job of navigating between comic and tragic tones. This is a tragi-comedy if ever their was one, wry humor and enough hart to earn this ***

Ski School (1990)

Slacker sex comedy about a ski competition is better than expected, owing largely to the presence of star Dean Cameron. Funny, surprisingly well constructed and the cast gets the intended tone and delivers. **1/2

Trancers (1984)

 First in a series of films that would star Tim Thomerson and (at least at first) Helen Hunt. 'Trancers' are basically sleeper agent zombies controlled by cult leader Art LaFleur. Tim Thomerson and his associates in the Angle City Police Force are too good at detecting and stopping them, so LaFluer sends his consciousness back from 2247 into the brain of a police detective ancestor in 1985 Los Angeles; his plan is to kill the ancestors of his enemies ensuring his future victory. Thomerson follows him back, inhibiting the body of an ancestor of his own, a reporter, and team's up with a young Helen Hunt to stop the bad guy. In the end as part of defeting the bad guy Thomerson ends up stuck in the past, which isn't so bad upon learning 20 year old Helen Hunt is also his ancestor and they need to set about creating his lineage. Low budget but pretty fun. Reminds me of a few other properties with a similar premise. **1/2

I Saw the TV Glow (2025)

 Largely existential horror film/ coming of age story explores Fandom and gender identity struggles. Spans 1996 to 2030, and really excels in its depection of mid 90's teen life. Not fully sure what to make of it, not exactly my thing, but I really admired it's originality and can see how for some people this movie could really speak to them. ***

Thunderbolts* (2025)

 Here I returned to the theater for the first time since 'Nosferatu' in January. 'Thundebolts' is basically Marvel's rough equivalent to DC's 'Suicide Squad'. It's middling, but compared to much recent Marvel product it is a step up. **1/2

Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999)

 Name only sequel is further evidence (along with 'Guncrazy' and the original 'Freeway') that writer/director Matthew Bright has a real talent for the killing spree road movie. Natasha Lyonne is given an unusually long prison sentence for some relatively minor crimes (so much so that her arresting officers are uncomfortable with her sentence). She befriends an unstable young serial killer (María Celedonio) and the two break out and make their way to Maria's native Mexico in search of a Sister Gomez, the only person other then Natasha that she trusts. Sister Maria (Vincent Gallo) turns our to be a drag performer, whose also a child pornographer and cannibal (is this the origin of Pizzagate?). Wild and extreme, mondo explotation, I was never board, admire the audacity. **1/2

The Pyramid (1976)

 Dallas shot indie from our bicentennial year. The film starts with shots of school children and a fat man getting ready for their day; of course the fat man has a heart attack and crashes into the school bus; their are fatalities. We then follow a TV reporter and his camera man, eventually the camera man is fired from the station owing to creative differences with its director. Said camera man goes on to make independent documentaries, he also gets a vegan therapist girlfriend and we follow her for a bit. The film finally decides that camera man Micheal Ashe is its main character, we follow him making several indie doc's, mostly of a New Agey type, including one about a man who builds pyramids. 

One of the reviews I skimmed about this film asked the question 'what did I just watch?' I second that, though I think I enjoyed this meandering film, a real period oddity. I plan one watching it again to better get my head around it. For now at least I'm giving it **

Another Simple Favor (2025)

 Sequel to the 2018 film 'A Simple Favor' is not on the level of the original, but Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively have a nice chemistry and it's fun to revisit these characters, forever changed by events of the first film. A goofy and far fetched plot, there is set up for a threquel, seems like this would have been a fun shoot. **

G20 (2025)

 A perfectly mediocre action thriller, elevated by the presence of Viola Davis, as an ass kicking commander and cheif who must deal with a hostage situation at a G20 summit in South Africa. Paint by numbers, it plays as though assembled from parts of other movies. *

The Driller Killer (1979)

 The later work of director Able Ferra is foreshadowed in 'The Driller Killer, a darkly comic "slasher", which is more interested in being a semi-documentary character study/ examination of the 1970's New York punk music sceen, then it is in its gore. It's an odd combination of things and that's what makes it interesting, as well as it's focus on the gradual mental unwinding of its serial killer, we see how he slowly becomes a mad killer rather then starting him out as one. **1/2

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)

 Charles Bronson is an LA cop with a prejudice against Asians, who gets assigned the case of the kidnapped daughter of a Japanese buisness man. Even by the standards of Bronson revenge films this one is particularly dark and nihilistic. Roger Ebert called the film "throughly unpleasant", I'd mostly agree, but it can still be "car wreck" fascinating at times. The bad guys are vile and the "good guys" break laws they are supposed to be enforcing, even accidentally killing one of the bad guys during an "interigargration". The final battle between Bronson and the baddies is memorable. **

Lynch/Oz (2022)

 Basically this is six video essays exploring connections between the work of director David Lynch and the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz'. The essays are perfectly fine, but as a movie... Why was this made? Not that any movie is "necessary", but this one felt particularly unnecessary. **

Hey, Stop Stabbing Me! (2000)

 'Hey, Stop Stabbing Me!' is a horror comedy, alternately broad and dry, made by a 22 year old Josh Miller and his friends in suburban Minnisota over the course of the summer of 2000. I would describe it as a better version of something I might have been tempted to do around the same time. Done with basically no budget, but some real wit, it really brought me back to my suburban experience of the Clinton years, while also foreshadowing later online content, like the spoof movies done by Channel Awesome during the Obama years. Josh Miller would go on to write the Christmas comedy 'Violent Night' as well as all three Sonic the Hedgehog movies. **1/2

Tower of Evil (1972)

 The titular 'Tower of Evil' is an abandoned lighthouse on a rocky Scottish island, though much of the films Evil occurs in the caves underground and is associated with Baal worship. Hippies, scientists and locals all visit the island for various reasons and most end up dead. The film has a promissingly weird and visceral start, then settles in for prolonged dull, standard fair. *1/2

I Married a Communist (1950)

 In 'I Married a Communist' aka 'The Woman on Pier 13', Roosevelt, Utah native Laraine Day plays the woman who inadvertintly marries a communist. More accurately a lapsed communist played by Robert Ryan. The communists come looking for him however, as having changed his name and become a person of some authority at the San Francisco docks, he could be useful to them. Blackmail ensues and most of the major characters end up dead. A mixture of film noir and propaganda, these basic themes are explored as well or better in other period films such as 'I was a Communist for the FBI' and 'Red Menace'. *1/2

Hell's Half Acre (1954)

 From the fancy clubs to the squalid slums of Honolulu, 'Hell's Half Acre' is a flawed experiment in making a Hawaiian set (and shot) Film Noir, or 'Tiki Noir' as I've read it called. I started this as part of a Marie Windsor movie kick, she's fourth billed but dosen't appear on screen until 43 minutes in, she turns out to be a relatively minor character. There is also a character here called "Tubby" Otis, a name I consider to be a virtue in and of its self. The plot concerns a woman coming to Hawaii when she learns the husband she thought she lost in Pearl Harbor might still be alive, only to find that he has reinvented himself as a kind of mid level gangster. Does he even remember her?, the film keeps you guessing, but first it drags you through some mostly dull times, punctuated by Elsa Lanchester trying to provide some light moments. I did however rather like the ending, which earns this film an extra half a star, leaving us with a rating of **

The Miracle Mile (1988)

 'The Miracle Mile' starts out as an L A set romantic comedy featuring the likable coupling of Anthony Edward's and Mare Winningham, whose relationship we see just starting out. Then, around a third into the movie, by chance Anthony Edwards receives advanced warning of an impending nuclear attack in about an hour. Much like 'The Birds', it's as if one movie is hit broadside by another movie, and its all the more effective for that. 

Much of the film is chaotic, a diverse and surprisingly queer friendly assortment of characters bumping up against each other. The seeming randomness of both good luck and bad luck is the major through line; The best of people and the worst of people. A great sense of energy and tension and the unexpected, as well as troups and clichés affirmed and subverted. That in the end it all comes together in a strange symmetry, both horrible and beautiful is a testment to something hard to put into words. I've seen some movies that explore similar themes, but the execution here was both unexpected and top notch. I anticipate this is a movie that will really reward repeat viewing. ****

We Can't Go Home Again (1976)

 Though he would appeare later in films as both actor and documentary subject, Nicholas Ray's last film as a director was the appropriately titled 'We Can't Go Home Again'. Through a more then decade long decline in which Nic's erraticism made him essentially unemployable in both Hollywood and European film making, he managed to land a job as a professor at small Binghamton University in rural south central New York. Ray made this film along with his students over several years in the 1970's. There are multiple cuts of the film, I think the one I saw was the 1976 cut.

Basically the film is very meta, depicting Nic and his students as versions of themselves attending his classes and getting to know each other. Seems like no script, just improvising. The film is edited together in an unusal fashion, with multiple shots often appearing on the screen together, sometimes over lapping, sometimes distorted. Actor and Ray family friend Sterling Hayden on seeing the movie at a foreign film festival, reportedly told the director's wife the film was best viewed while high, to which she responded, why not, he  certainly filmed it high.

Going into this I was expecting a mess, and it's a mess, but it's a creative and oddly endering mess; perhaps best received in small douces. I feel pretty confident that Ray slept with at least one of these students, I wonder if she's showed this movie to grandchilden. ***

Hellfire (1949)

 In this religiously tinged western William Elliot plays a card sharp who turns to God after a preacher takes a bullet for him. Promising the dying man that he would complet the church he was trying to build, Elliot determines that a sacred building can not be financed with ill gotten gain, so sets off to find other ways to raise the money. He finds one in the form of a $5,000 bounty on a notorious female bandit played by Marie Windsor. William quickly finds her and discovers he is more interested in saving her soul and winning her heart then the bounty money. He sort of teams up with her, in an effort to set her straight, and keep her from apprehension by both the law and her embittered former associates. Enjoyable western is enjoyably different, kind of a find. ***

Casino (1995)

 I've seen 'Goodfella's' and I've seen a documentary history of Las Vegas, so at three hours long 'Casino' was just superfluous. At a mear 2 hours I would have given this three stars for the quality of production and respect for Scorsese; I deducted half a star for each half hour it ran over that. **

The Church (1989)

 A German cathedral built on the site of a medieval massacre begins to manifest its evil during renovations. I watched this yesterday and I can already remember hardly anything about it. Produced by Dario Argento and featuring his daughter Asia as an adult like young teen and Barbara Cupisti as a child like young women. Originally intended as the third film in the 'Demonds' franchise, it had its connections to the earlier films waterd down over the course of production. Film still looks great, but otherwise just kind of there. **

The Hound of the Baskeevilles (1959)

 Solid if unremarkable adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story by Hammer Studios. Intended as the first of a series of Holmes adaptations, it's box office was tempered by lack of a monster, proving to be at odds with Hammer's buisness model of the time. Notable chiefly for the presence of Hammer's two biggest stars, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. **

The Beach Girls (1982)

 Three female friends just out of high school decide to throw a massive party at the beach home of one of their uncles; also they find trash bags full of Marijuana jettesoned by panicy drug runners. 80's teen sexy comedy really delivers on its premise, with lots of boobs and drugs and reasonably good humor. I had previously coined the term "4-star-3-star-movie' to refer to a film that I couldn't rightly give more the 3 stars, but which delivered to the full extent of its potential, well 'The Beach Girls' is a '3-star-2-star-movie'. 

10 to Midnight (1983)

 Youtube critic Brad Jones' favorite Charles Bronson movie and I can tell why. This movie does what it sets out to do extremely well, in spirit it is essentially a remake of Dirty Harry, with a great villian you love to hate in the form of Eugene M. Davis, who would go on to menace Bronson again five years later in 'Messinger of Death'. Lisa Eilbacher ups the emotional investment as my favorite of Bronson's on screen daughters. ***

Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case (1959)

 Inspector Maigret returns to the country Chateau where he lived as a boy when he is father was the grounds keeper. The Countess de Saint-Fiacre (Valentine Tessier), who had been a beautiful young bride when Maigret last saw her and is now an elderly widow, has received  a death threat and asked his assistance in investigating. Shortly after Maigret's arrival the Countess dies of a heart attack, an attack Maigret is convinced was deliberately triggered; he finds a surprisingly large collection of possible suspects. Jean Gabin plays the character more world weary then did Albert Prejean, but that really works here. A satisfying mystery that consistently held my interest. ***

Tokyo Pop (1988)

 Aspiring American rock and roller Carrie Hamilton (daughter of Carol Burnett, who sadly died from cancer at the age of 38) travels to Japan hopping to break into its pop music scene. Carrie does become moderatly successful there with her boyfriend/ band mate Yutaka Tadokoro, but the question of could she make it in America continues to occupy her thoughts. A sweet, pleasant and modest picture. ***

Strange Darling (2023)

 Non linear, Tarantino influenced horror thriller about the end of a serial killing spree; set in 2020 Oregon. Kyle Garner and Willa Fitzgerald play cat and mouse, lots of twists and turns, lots of expectation subversion. I'd probably have cut 1/3 to 1/2 of the coda at the end, but this is an exciting and creative movie. ***

Barbara (2012)

 East Germany, 1980. Barbara (Nina Hoss) is a doctor who applies for an exit visa so she can be with her West German lover. The State dosen't like that, so they reassign her from a prestigious Berlin hospital out to the sticks. She's a good doctor, does right by her patients, but plots an escape. Ronald Zehrfeld is another doctor, the cheif doctor, at that rural hospital, he's a great guy who goes above and beyond for his patients. The two have a real chemistry, you root for them to get together, yet you also get the draw of the of the warmth of the West contrasted with the muted cold of the East. There are several engaging sub plots, all of which comes to tie into the main narrative and movie it forward. I really enjoyed this, and think it could be adapted into a pretty strong TV series. ***1/2

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

 Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue give arguably career best performances in this poignant tale, wherein the former plays a suicidal Hollywood executive who travels to Las Vegas to drink himself to death, and the latter a high end prostitute who is moved by his plight and falls in love with him. Despite its very American settings of LA and Vegas, this feels more like a European film then an American one. Not in a hurry, reflective, the film boasts some left field cameos and a really individual soundtrack. I wasn't emotionally moved as much as I was hopping to be, but the movie still produces an idocentric form of wonder and awe that is memorable. ***1/2

The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968)

 'The Girl on a Motorcycle'  is a French produced film released in the United States under the more provocative title of 'Naked Under Leather'. The film stars singer Marianne Faithful as a young women torn between her bland but loving French husband (Roger Mutton) and a dashing German (Alain Delon) with whom she is having an affair. Beautifuly shot with appropriately psychedelic style by the legendary Jack Cardiff. The film's structure focuseing on a motorcycle cycle trip from France to Germany is a also very trippy, there are dream and fantasy sequences as well as flash backs within flashbacks; it can be a little hard at times to keep the narrative straight, but the film was intended to have a dream like logic to it. Mid film I predicted how I thought this would end, planned on hating that, but when it did unfold as I predicted, by that time I was fine with it. ***

Boccaccio 70 (1962)

 An anthology of four short films by name Italin directors (who I will not bother to name) inspired by the works of the 14th century Italian humanist writer Giovanni Boccaccio. We have a story of two newly weds dealing with a lack of privacy in her parents small apartment; a wealthy young couple rocked when the husband's chronic cheating makes the tabloids; a giant Anita Ekberg tormenting a prudish scold; and a semi secret carnavale lottery where the grand prize is a night with Sofia Loeren. All solid and none overstayed it's welcome, even with a running time of 3hrs 25 minutes. It came out in 1962 so I'm guessing the 70 refers to the use of 70 millimeter film. ***

Please, Not Now! (1961)

 French love quadrangle comedy stars Brigitte Bardot and was directed by her then ex husband Roger Vadim. Shades of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' here. A fun and free kinda film, a sort of screw ball comedy, and damn sexy. ***

The Girl in Black Stockings (1957)

 A series of murders rock the resort community of Knab, Utah. A pretty solid B picture with a good cast of characters. The resolutions a little on the silly side, thought the most unrealistic thing about the picture might be that the sheriff drinks coffee and beer. Ann Bancroft and Mamie Van Doren are it's least forgotten cast members. **1/2

Russ Meyer's Supervixens (1975)

 When corrupt cop Charles Napier murders  young mechanic Clint's (Charles Pitt) hypersexual girlfriend Shari Eubank and then frames him for it, our hero is forced to go on the lamb in rural Arizona. Sex comedy/action flick, is over the top but largely good humored. While on the run Clint finds himself repeatedly and aggressively sexually persued by extremely busty women, then violently persued by the men in their life. Still Clint finds love with a look alike (same actress) of his dead girlfriend  before a final confrontation with Charles Napier. Russ Meyer writing and directing at the top of his game, the man loved his work. This movie made $17 million at the box office off a budget of $100,000, a 17 fold return on investment. ***

Cecil is Dead (1944)

This is another Jules Maigret mystery staring Albert Préjean. The body of a headless woman is found in a cheap hotel and a families long held secrets are in danger of exposure. I liked this one alot more then the other of these that I watched, consistently engaging. ***

Compliance (2012)

 A critical examination of deference to authority; a true squirmfest. Inspired by real events, a fast food manager (Ann Dowd) subjects a young employee (Dreama Walker) to increasing levels of harassment, invasions of privacy and worse, because a man on the phone claiming to be a police officer tells her to. Solid, effective, unpleasant. ***

A Teacher (2013)

 A high school English teacher (Lindsey Burge) becomes increasingly obsessed with the student (Will Brittain) she is having an affair with. The film is done largely sans backstory (though some things are implied), and without any internal monologe, or even intimations of the same. So we only know what we see, we can observe the teachers gradual mental unwinding, but we never learn the reasons behind it. It's a kind of story telling some will find frustrating, but here, for me, it really worked. The kid is good, but it's Burge's very committed performance that makes this a engaging watch. ***

The Forbiden Room (2015)

 'The Forbiden Room' is a Guy Maddin film, so it's done in that oldie timey, 'Soviet montage' style that is his signature. This particular film employes a kind of Russian doll structure, where we see stories within stories, in essence a series of short films cut in pieces and presented in parts. This is really to the films benefit, it allows more diversity of visual and story text, and no one narrative goes on too long. The main stories concern a crew trapped in a downed submarine and lumberjacks out to save a beloved local damsel from a gang of wolves. But also, as summed up by Wikipedia: "Other sub-stories involve: a surgeon kidnapped by a team of "women skeletons" who work as insurance defrauders; a madman on a train under the charge of a womanizing psychiatrist; a mustache that seeks to comfort the widow of the man whose face it used to adorn; and a doctor cursed by a bust of Janus. "  I really enjoyed this, it might also make good on boarding for those new to Maddin. ***

Picpus (1943)

 This is an Inspector Mairgret story, my first exposure to one. Mairgret must solve the mystery of an unknown body which is found in a wardrobe of a woman moving apartments; it wasn't there when she moved out of her old place, but somehow got in there during the moving process. This was pretty good, Mairgret is likeable but a pretty standard detective character, the supporting characters are pretty much types as well. This was filmed in France during the Nazi occupation, though no references to this exists in the film its self.**1/2

Asphalt (1929)

 An earnest young police officer and a felonious woman fall for each other, resulting in life threating complications. There isn't much to this story, but it's very capabily pulled off in large part do to the charisma of the leads. This is a late German silent, so I couldn't help but be mildly distracted wondering which characters and actors would become Nazi's. ***

Witness in the City (1959)

 French noir. A wealthy industrialist who killed his mistress is in turn killed by the woman's husband. He stages things to make it look like a suicide, but is unexpectedly seen by a cab driver leaving the scene of the crime. The murderer then must quickly improvise an alibi so he can track down and kill the cabie. However this tax driver proves to be a very social person who is always around people, most notably his girlfriend, a dispatcher at the cab company who is the first to figure out her boyfriend may be an indirect witness to a murder. This was a really solid movie, I'm a little surprised it didn't get an American remake. Great tension. ***

Kamikaze (1986)

French movie; grumpy scientist Michel Galabru is fired from his job, he takes to exploding the heads of television presenters from his nephews attic with an ultrasonic weapon he invented and can fire from his TV. Much of the movie involves the investigation into the murder spree and it is all treated very matter of fact and realistic. I couldn't help but think of the implications to the world of the movie from the madman's invention; live broadcasting would essentially have to end, in fact it would be so dangerous that it would probably become a crime. Unique and compelling feature. ***1/2

Anora (2024)

 I saw 'Anora' about a week before it won all those Oscar's. Deserved. I'll watch anything Sean Baker does, I've seen three of his films so far and they were all excellent. 'Anora' is his most commercial film so far, bit still very much an indie. The movie starts as a slice of life character piece, then becomes a whirl wind romance before morphing into an extended comedy of errors, and then becomes something else, which I won't spoil save to say I was very satisfied with it. ****

Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse (2004)

 Jean Reno is back, investigating a series of murders that mimic the deaths of the 12 Apostles, so it wants to 'Seven'. Benoit Magimel is one of Reno's former students from the academy, he teams up with his older teacher when the drug running case he is investigating intersects his mentors case. Camille Natta is a sexy "religion expert" and Christopher Lee shows up briefly as the big bad. Not as good as the first one, but still gothic fun. **1/2

Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

 Tom Green's notorious gross out comedy 'Freddy Got Fingered' largely derailed his career, and even after watching Prime's new documentary on Green, I can't tell if that was intentional or not. This movie is very bad, but having recently spent some proxy time with Green, I feel like I kind of get it, and I didn't hate it. Marisa Caughlan is fetching as the love interest and Rip Torn's going all in really helps. **

The Treatment (2006)

 When his long time off and on girlfriend (Stephine March) gets engaged to another man, a mild mannered private school teacher (Chris Eigeman) takes the advise of his grouchy, Argentinian therapist (Ian Holm) and persues a beautiful widow (Famke Janssen) on his schools board. Based on a novel I now want to  read, this is a very charming feature from director Oren Rudavsky, who principly does documentary. Great performances from a strong cast, especially Famke and the under known Chris Eigman, he's charming and should have had more of a leading man career as a kind of American Colin Firth. Harris Yulin, who I was surprised to learn is still alive, does some very good work as Eigman's loving but distant father. ***

The Crimson Rivers (2001)

 French thriller, based on a novel. Set in rural France, two detectives working two different cases come to find that their mysteries intersect. Jean Reno is a solemn, noireish detective sent from the city to investigate the ritual murder of the young head librarian at an isolated college; Vincent Cassel is a local, more action movie type detective, investigating the desecration of a child's tomb and a break-in at a Grammer school. This does a real good job pulling you in and maintaining an unsettling feeling, though frankly the ending gets kind of silly. Film does a pretty good job of blending styles, this is essentially two different movies which come together a little more then half way through. Solid, very watchable. ***

Insomnia (1997)

 Later remade by Christopher Nolan, 'Insomnia' is a Norwegian thriller about a detective investigating the murder of a high school girl in the far north, during the time of year that it is daylight 24/7. Stellan Skarsgard is the detective, a troubled loner, the constant light keeps him awake, growing more unhinged and increasingly creepy the longer this goes on. It's been a long time since I last saw the American version, which is set in Alsaka, the stories are for the most part really similar, though notably they have different endings. Fairly basic as a mystery, good as a mode piece and great as a character study. There's a reason this got enough attention to prompt an American remake. ****

Salvation! (1987)

 A man and his sister-in-law blackmail a televangelist into launching his wife's music career. One of the blurbs I read about this movie said the only thing it really has going for it is its topicality, being released during the wave of televangelist scandles of the 1980's. The movie is bad, one of the worst I've seen in editing, structure, story, acting, though the look of the film I genrally liked. At times hard to follow, only sporadically engaging. There are like 3 music videos shoehorned into this thing, the pacing is horrible. A wasted premise. Viggo Mortensen plays the husband. *

The Sessions (2012)

 Based on the true story of the polio paralyzed writer Mark O'Brian's use of a surrogate to experience sexual intimacy for the first time at the age of 38. Helen Hunt plays the therapist and sex surrogate, it's always nice to see Helen, and we do see alot of her in this film. William H. Macey has a good turn as an unusally understanding priest and the supporting cast including Moon Bloodgood is all top notch. This is however John Hawkes movie. I am used to seeing him in more "tough guy" kind of roles, but his work as the good humored, sympathetic, poet souled, pious Catholic trapped in a very physically limited body is career best stuff; it's wrong that he didn't get an Oscar nomination for this. ****

Princess Tam Tam (1935)

 Author Albert Prejean and his assistant Robert Arnoux travel to colonial Algeria for inspiration, they meet pretty theif Josephine Baker and decide to "Pygmalion" her and then return to France and try passing her off as an exotic princess. I was aware of Josephine Baker but this was the first time I'd seen her in a film, she is rather spunky and charming, I get why the French loved her; Americans not so much, this film didn't clear the production code. There is a scene near the end of the film where non white characters Baker and Jean Galland share a "white people sure are oblivious moment". Also, great Busby Berkley style dance number near the end. ***

Tango & Cash (1989)

 "Tango & Cash" is 80s movie concentrate and should be studied in a lab. Sylvester Stallon and Kurt Russell are the respective L.A. hero cops, they are framed for drug running and murder and must go on the lamb to trade quips and prove their innocence. Teri Hatcher does a sexy dance, Jack Palancr chews the scenery. **

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

 Spend a little time looking into 1950's British science fiction and your sure to come across this title. 'The Quatermass Xperiment' started off as a tellaplay, then was adapted into this movie which would yield sequels and revivals into the 21st century. Bernard Quartermass (Brian Donlevy) is a brilliant scientist, he's also more then a bit of a single minded asshole, which makes him interesting. His initial rocket mission returns days later with two crewmen missing and one near catatonic. This is an "astronauts brought something alien back with them" story. Quatermass is teamed reluctantly with Scotland Yard Inspecter Lomax (Jack Warner, but not "that" Jack Waner). There are some close calls but the world is saved, after which Quatermass immediately sets to work preparing a second space flight, that man is out of control, he will kill us all. **1/2

Conclave (2024)

 The unexpected death of a liberal Pope, under mysterious circumstances, leads to a contentious "conclave" to determine his successor. Large cast of heavy weights including Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isebella Rossellini. This a church politics, behind the scenes, power struggle kind of movie, with plenty of twists and turns. However, it is also a different kind of movie, and seeming disconnect between those types of films caused me some trouble processing it at first. I wasn't sure how much of it I could really "believe", but on reflection what at times might seem awkward was really well constructed. The final shot of the movie tied a ribbon around it. Some might say it's blasphemy, but I'm giving it ****

Swamp Thing (1982)

 Brilliant scientist turned into a green, mossey "swamp thing", lives in what looks like the Florida everglades. Based on a DC comic book, directed by a pre Freddy Kruger Wes Craven. There was a 1990's Swamp Thing TV series which was watched regularly by, of all the people in the household, my mother. I recall that show as being oddly somber, this is less so. Staring Ray Wise and  Dick Durock as pre and post transformation Dr. Alec Holland respectively. Adrienne Barbeau, then the only true "scream queen" competition to Jaime Lee Curtis, is the love interest. While Louise Jordan is a better Bond villian here then he would be in Octapussy the next year. **1/2

To the Stars (2019)

 In rural 1961 Oklahoma a shy and awkward girl (Kara Hayward) is befriended by the outgoing new girl in town (Liana Liberato) resulting in a friendship that will change both their lives. Beautiful little movie, nicely restrained, elegantly put together and quite endering. You really get a sense of the time and place, the aura of the whole community. Strong central players with a supporting cast that really fills out the world of the film. Not the subtlist movie in its messaging, but also doesn't hit you over the head with it. Maybe the best portrayal of early 60's America I've seen since Mad Men. ***1/2

In the Land of Women (2007)

 When Los Angeleno Adam Brody's movie star girlfriend breaks up with him, he takes the opertunitie to visit his ailing grandmother in Michigan, only to be drawn into the drama of a neighbor family and become an object of desire for both mother Meg Ryan and daughter Kristen Stewart. (Run on sentence run on). Perfect vehicle for Brody to do his charming thing, strong performances from all the principles. Likable. ***

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

 MGM musical adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name. 'Cabin in the Sky' has an all black cast, essentially unheard of in a major studio film of its time. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, best known as Jack Benny's sidekick on his very popular radio program, plays Little Joe Jackson, a well meaning fellow with an unfortunate weakness for gambling.

 After Joe is shot and killed in a gambling dispute, his wife (played by Ethel Waters) prays to the Lord to have him back. God obliges, wipes Joe's memory of the afterlife and gives him a 6 month probation to prove he really did intend to mend his ways. He is watched over by an angel played by Kenneth Spencer and by Lucifer Jr played Rex Ingram, who employs the sultry Lena Horn in an effort to lead Joe off the straight and narrow. Employing stereotypes of its time the film is still well meaning, creative, and musically solid, including Duke Ellington as himself and Louis Armstrong as one of Lucifer Jr's devil helpers. ***

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Neckless (1962)

 Lose German adaptation of Doyle's final Sherlock Holmes novel, 1915's The Valley of Fear. We have an English Holmes and Watson (Christopher Lee and Thorley Walters respectively) but the rest of the cast is principally German. Film just feels off, low budget, pacing issues, often stilted acting. An oddity. *1/2

My Old Ass (2024)

 Just weeks before heading off to college 18 year old Canadian Elliot LeBrant (a marvelous Maisy Stella) takes a bunch of mushrooms and ends up meeting her 39 year old self (played by a marvelous Aubrey Plaza). Remarkably after their night in the woods together the two find  out they can still communicate by cellphone, with the older Elliot giving the younger Elliot advice on how to avoid mistakes in their future life. A movie like this has a very narrow lane that it can inhabit without slipping into being either overly goofy or overly sentimental, and this movies does an exquisite job of staying in that lane. One of the best and most surprising films of last year. ***1/2

Dr. Who and the the Daleks (1965)

 I had never watched any Dr. Who before and thought it would be funny to start with one of the non canonical feature films in which Dr. Who is not an alien, but rather an absent minded professor type played by Peter Cushing. Here the doctor takes his two granddaughters and the older ones boyfriend on an adventure in his newly constructed Tartis. They wind up on a ravaged planet where they help a blond haird pacifist people against the genocidal Daleks. This movie owes much to/ cribes much from H. G. Wells The Time Machine. Still I found it entirely satisfying as adventure serial type stuff. **1/2