Night of the Comet (1984)

'Night of the Comet' is a film I really wanted to like, and probably would have liked a lot more if I'd seen it in say the 1990's. This extremely 80's 'cult' film barrows from 'The Day of the Triffids', 'I Am Legend' and other source material to produce a tale centered on two sisters in their late teens (Catherine Mary Stewart, and Kelli Maroney) who are among the few to survive a passing comet that turns people exposed to it into aggressive zombies and/or dust (depending on degree of exposure). I liked the beginning and end of the film, I thought the middle too slow, predictable and boring. As teen aged girls the two of course go on a spree of consumerism at the mall, and take the whole thing too matter of factley, at lest Kelli does. Robert Beltran plays the main love interest, the sound track contains a lot of pop music, excused in part by the girls taking up a residence in a radio station. **

Fury of the Demon (2015)

 'Fury of the Demon' is a film that it would probably be best not to spoil. A documentary about early French film pioneer Georges Méliès and a mysterious 1897 film titled 'Fury of the Demon', which is attributed to him and supposedly causes madness (think 'The King in Yellow'). This film was not what I was expecting, an intriguing surprise. ***

The Brainwashing of My Dad (2015)

 'The Brainwashing of My Dad' is a documentary by first time film maker Jen Sinko. The project has its roots in a kickstarter campaign, but the final product looks reasonably professional and manged to get the likes of Noam Chomsky and Jeff Cohen as talking heads, not to mention Matthew Modine to narrate. The film uses as its starting point the transformation of Sinko's once nominally democratic dad into a right wing zealot, and practically a different person as a result of consuming increasing amounts of conservative media. This is a our gate way into a pretty good survey course on the rise of conservative media since say the 1960's, and it's effects on people. consumers, family and friends. I was already aware of most of this information but it was presented in a way (that didn't annoy me) and would make it a pretty good introduction to the topic for those who aren't. There is even a surprise happy ending. Better then I would have thought. ***

The Last Party (2001)

 'The Last Party' is a 'Democracy Now' reminiscent, thematic collage of a documentary about the 2000 presidential election. The high light is host Phillip Seymour Hoffman's face as he reacts to poetical speakers he is clearly not believing. This is the 2nd in a trilogy of films, the other movies being about the 1992 and 2004 elections. **

MacGruber (2010)

 'MacGruber' is a feature film adaption of a 90 second Saturday Night Live skit that pokes fun at the 80's/90's adventure series MacGyver, it probably should have stayed a skit. About 20% funny and 80% stupid the cast, which includes Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Powers Booth and Val Kilmer is all game, but the material's just not there. I honestly laughed out loud several times but you have to wade through a lot of crap, the movie relies far too much on gross out humor. *1/2 

Future '38 (2017)

 'Future '38' is a low budget indie comedy, a science fiction romance that is presented as a supposedly lost film in an introduction hosted by Dr. Neil DeGrass Tyson of all people. Nick Westrate plays Essex, sent 80 years into the future by the War Department (with almost no explanation on how this was accomplished) to retrieve a dangerous isotope developed in the 30's, but that takes decades to achieve it's full explosive potential. The government hopes to use the isotope to deter Nazi aggression and prevent a second World War. When Essex arrives in the future he finds that he has succeeded and the world is peaceful, but there are a group of unreconstructed Germans who have learned how the war was prevented and hope to stop Essex in his mission. 

Essex enlists the aid of a hotel operator played by Betty Gilpin, who becomes his love interest and delivers her dialogue in Katheryn Hepburn diction. I found the movie plucky and charming, it's chief gags concern relaying the world of 2018 in a way that would be theoretically decipherable to viewers in 1938. It's like a book translated into a foreign language and then back into English, so the internet become 'the electromesh', plastic becomes 'Bendo', and the spork becomes the froon. There are many amusing gags here, such the '24 hour new cycle' being a newspaper delivery service on unicycle. Gilpin and Westrate have a nice chemistry and the whole thing is probably better then it should be. It even boasts a surprisingly soulful and down beat ending. At around 75 minutes probably worth seeing if your at all intrigued. ***

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

This very indie movie stars Michelle Williams as Wendy Carol, a young and poor woman from Indiana traveling cross country with her dog Lucy in the hopes of getting work at the fishers in Alaska. While in Oregon their car breaks down and the consequences of a poor decision on Wendy's part results in her leaving the dog unattended tied up next to a supermarket for hours. When Wendy returns Lucy is gone and the rest of the film concerns her effort to retrieve her lost dog, the only thing in her life that she loved.

Slow and understated the film is a character study, not much happens plot wise, and while it has a few moments that engage and a nice tone and sense of place, it doesn't command the viewers full attention. As a result when the films stronger moments due pop up they may not register as well as they would if you were in distraction-less theater rather then watching at home. Only 80 minutes long its a movie that practically asks to be skimmed more then watched. **1/2