The Passenger (2023)

 Janitor Kyle Gallner takes fast food employee Johnny Berchtold hostage with the stated purpose of "helping" the very shy young man, after first massacring his co workers at a small town Louisana burger place. Strong central performances, including Liza Weil, in what proves to be an exquisitely constructed story of pain, regret and hope. Despite its run down, depressing, blue collar setting, this movie is beautiful. ***1/2

Caged (1950)

 Eleanor Parker in the first of three Oscar nominated performances plays Marie Allen, a niave 19 year old who goes to jail as an accessory after her husband dies in a robbery attempt. Doc drama style expose of women's prisons show how the system fails Marie and the sweet young woman leaves jail, hardened, embittered and likely to end up back there. The B plot concerns the power struggle between the abuseive prison matrion played by Hope Emerson and an idealistic wardon played by Agnes Moorehead, who tries largely in vain to make things better in what may be the best role she ever got. I found this movie to be unexpectedly strong, it is often compared favorably to the asylum expose 'The Snake Pit', though this movie is more depressing. ***1/2

Viva (2007)

 Writer/director/producer/editor/star Anne Biller's highly stylized story of a house wife who embarks on a journy of self discovery and psycho sexual liberation in 1972 California. Not as good as her later 'The Love Witch', movie is campy fun with stilted dialogue and a message I can't quite make out. Great look to the thing despite the obviously limited budget, I loved the retro lounge style soundtrack. Lots of nudity, but more a commentary on erotocism then actually errotic. **1/2

Savage Dawn (1985)

 Ex CIA agents Lance Hendrickson and George Kennedy, the latter's two young adult children, and for some reason a bunch of Chinese people, fight back against a biker gang and the stolen military hardware they use to besiege a small Texas town. This feels like it should have been a cult movie, however it never seems to have achieved that status. **1/2

Widow Clicquot (2023)

 Inspired by the true story of Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, who ran her husband's champagne winery after his death in 1805, and is credited with the invention of pink champagne and a double fermenting process still used today. An interesting enough story they wait until about half way through the film before addressing the mental unraveling of her husband in the years before his death. In flash backs he is at first portrayed as very loving and of a progressive temperament, seeing his decline makes the story and Barbe's accomplishments all the more moving and impressive. Haley Bennett is both strong and radiant in the lead. ***

The Old Way (2023)

 This is a Nicolas Cage western, and being able to say you have seen a Nicolas Cage western is about the only reason to watch this movie, other then a strong performance from young Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Cage's daughter. This is a revenge movie, a shitty variant on 'Unforgiven' that feels like it's adapted from a pulp western paperback from the 1950's, but was actually written for the screen by a man who likely read a bunch of pulp western paperbacks from the 1950's. This movie radiates cheapness and only on rare occasion do its various clichés elicit some amusement. I admire Nick Searcy's commitment to his exposition heavy role as a Marshall. *1/2

Naked Vengence (1985)

 'Naked Vengence' is a kind of female lead varient on a 'Death Wish' movie, and I wish they'd made more. Staring the beautiful Deborah Tranelli, a television actress in her only film role, she plays an aspiring actress in a very happy marriage to a successful architect. After a dinner to celebrate their 1st wedding anniversary the husband tries to stop an assult on a woman in the parking lot only to be killed for his trouble, the assailant getting away. After the funeral Deborah decides to spend some recoup time with her parents in the small California town where she grew up, only other then them everyone in town (with a very few exceptions) turns out to be a real asshole. She is gang rapped in her parents home, her folks killed in an attempt to help her. While in the hospital she decides to seek her revenge, while at first she appears to be near catatonic she sneaks out at night and begins a killing spree against her attackers. The film puts its lead through some real harrowing stuff in order to make the subsequent revenge killings as satisfying a possible. This America shot, Phillipines produced film is sleazy explotation, but shot with soom real sheen. **1/2