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. **