Safe (1995)

 Five years before Julianne Moore played a 1950's Connecticut housewife in crisis in Todd Haynes 'Far From Heaven', she played a 1980's California housewife in crises in Todd Haynes 'Safe'.  A trophy wife, beautiful, but a woman of seemingly little personality and no great passions. She's a nice, pleasant lady, not dumb but not particularly smart. She lives something of an auto pilot life, errands, aerobics, decorating the mini mansion where she lives with her husband (Xandier Berkley) and 10 year old step son.

It begins slowly but Carol starts having reactions to things, hair sprays, cosmetics, exhausts, bug sprays. The doctors can't find anything physically wrong with her, there is skepticism from family and friends, but she starts having incidents of shortness of breath, then a seizure in a public place, there's a hospital stay but they can't figure out what's wrong. Carol encounters a bulletin at her health club about "environmental illness". She goes to the meeting, is sold that this is what she has and sets about looking for treatment. She finds a treatment center in New Mexico, perhaps it holds the answers and perhaps it does not. I hesitate to say more.

'Safe' is the kind of movie that asks for a half hour post film discussion to unpack it. There's a lot here, but it's presented with a kind of striking blandness, both surreal and hyper real. There is a commitment to ambiguity here that I really admire. 'Safe' dosen't play it safe, and is unsettling because of this. Existential horror in dramatic disguise. ***1/2

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

 In 'Death Wish 4' Kersey is back in LA, he's a working architect again, shows he has a type with a second love intreast whose a reporter, and also like her predecessors a much younger blond (Kay Lenz). Paul's said to been with his current love interest for about 2 years, has become something of a father figure to her teenage daughter Dana Barron. Well wouldn't you know it but Dana dies in a drug overdose from the crack cocaine. So Bronson gets to work vigilanting again; at the request of a old newspaperman who tells him his daughter died from the crack, Paul sows seeds of chaos in an effort to start a gang war between the two biggest drug suppliers in LA. When leaders of those two parties meet for a summit, Paul ensures it ends in a blood bath taking out the leadership of both sides. Only then does he learn that the old newspaper man was actually the leader of a third drug syndicate using Paul to take out his competition. Needless to say this too must be avenged. 

Lots o action, lots o violence. Further complication arises when Paul is persued by two cops, one clean and one dirty. Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager is in this, as is a young Danny Trahoe, whom Bronson blows up. I admit I've found these films to be surprisingly satisfying, they really found their metter, and play almost like R rated serial TV. **1/2

Death Wish III (1985)

 'Death Wish III' is the movie in which the franchise goes full Cannon. Over the top, grimmey, violent, 80's action camp. Kersey has spent the years since the 2nd film traveling around the country fighting crime. He goes to a  run down New York City neighborhood to visit an old Korean War buddy. When he gets to the man's place he finds him fatally injured, he dies just before the cops get there and arrest Kersey for the murder. Ed Lauter is the police chief now, he knows who Kersey is and what he has done, but instead of fighting him he offers to work with him. Kersey can fight to clean up his late friends comically crime riden neighborhood, provided he keeps a low profile and periodically briefs the cheif on his efforts. Kersey takes the deal.

Paul goes back to his friends neighborhood, befriends a resident and friend of that firend, Martin Balsam, who had served with their mutual buddy in WWII. Kersey makes friends in the neighborhood, fights crime, including through use of violent 'Home Alone' style traps. Bad things happen to his friends, Balsam's taxi meter repair shop is burnt down, two of the wives in the building are murdered, including a pre Star Trek Counslar Troi (Bill from the Bill and Ted movies is also in this as a gang member). Kersey's blond social worker romantic interest, the lovely cheekboned Deborah Raffin is also killed by the gang.

The last act of the film is a bonkers riot/gang war, wherein Paul uses a World War II machine gun to take on the badies and unit the otherwise law abiding populace to take the law into their own hands. This last bit goes on for about a half and hour, they blow up or burn whole buildings down as part of this sequence, which is amazingly long. In the end the gang is largely decimated, its evil leader blown up by a bazooka, and the surviving gang members leave. Kersey himself leaves shortly after.

This movie is pretty wild, it also can be enjoyed without having watched the first two films, it stands on its own. This is a fun bad movie which gave me strong signs of rewatchability. **1/2.

Death Wish 2 (1982)

 The original 1974 film 'Death Wish' was intriguing. Liberal, mild mannered architect Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) becomes a violent, vengeful vigilante after his wife is murdered and daughter traumatized in a gang rape. The first film has authorities discovering that Kersey is the killer, but agreeing to let him go if he stops what he's doing an quitley leaves town. That movie ends with Kersey relocating to Chicago with the intimation that he will continue his crime fighting there.

Cannon Films, which I think you could safely call an explotation house, acquired the rights to make Death Wish sequels, the first coming out in 1982 and set roughly 4 to 5 years after the events of the first film. Paul's Chicago stay has ended and he has again relocated. He is now in LA, working on a building project for a radio station, has a reporter girlfriend (Jill Ireland, Bronson's real life wife at the time), and has brought his daughter out to California for treatment, she is making progress and has finally started talking again, though not at any great length.

Kersey's wallet is stollen by a group of hoods, including a young Laurence Fishburn, who go to his house, knock him out, rape and murder the family maid, kidnap and rape his daughter, who is then killed trying to escape. This sets Kersey off on revenge mode again, he procedes to hunt down and kill the responsible gang members. The LAPD reaches out to the NYPD for help given their experience with a remarkably similar vigilante some years before. They send Lt. VIncent Gardenia from the first film out to stop Kersey, but in the end he joins forces with his target in order to stop a gun deal, the Lt is killed in action. Shortly after that Kersey kills the last of the gang members, but his reporter girlfriend figures our he's the vigilante and leaves him, though she never turns him in.

'Death Wish II' has a particularly mean, roughly first third, the remainder of the film is alternately okay and pretty good. Uneven but this is a better film then I'd expected it expect it to be. **

Paddington 2 (2017)

 Some years ago the movie 'Paddington 2' made waves by surpassing 'Citizan Kane' as the most positively reviewed film on Rotten Tomatoes. That 'Paddington 2' was transformingly good became something of a cultural meme, one of the funnier gags in the 2022 movie 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' is built around this. So the only real reason I watched the original Paddington was so I could watch this sequel. All the buildup may have muted the impact, I really liked Paddington 2 but I haven't joined its cult.

What about the movie resonated with so many viewers? I think it's sweetness, humor, lovable characters, and I think on a subconscious level how damn well constructed it was, every set up pays off, there's no fat on this thing. While viewing it reminded me at times of an odd assortment of movies from 'It's a Wonderful Life' to 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' to the 1973 Vincent Price cult horror classic 'Theater of Blood'.

Brendan Gleeson and Hugh Grant's performances were standouts in a top flight cast. I also enjoyed little cameo type appearances by the likes of Jessica Haynes. So very enjoyable and sweet, and while I can appreciate it, I sadly wasn't awed. ***1/2

Paddington (2014)

 In 'Paddington' Paddington, a small talking bear from darkest Peru, movies in with a middle class family in London, and Nicole Kidman tries to have him stuffed and mounted in a museum. My only real experience with Paddington the character was watching stop motion type shorts featuring him back in my Pre-K years. They were pleasant, affiable, understated, this Paddington is those things too. Likable and sweet, but not set the world on fire good. ***

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

 Nope I'd never seen this, my 'South Park' phase was 2002 - 2004. It's interesting to note in the films 25th anniversary year that 'South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut' was originally intended as a series wrap up, however the shows now been on the air for about 28 years. Very much a product of its time, how to evaluate this? I enjoyed the hutzpa of making this a musical, a foul mouthed musical; I enjoyed even more how well it works as a musical, even Stephen Sondheim acknowledged this. At just shy of 90 minutes it's the perfect length not to outstay it's welcome, and it really brought me back to a more juvenile mindset. Frankly, I enjoyed the break. ***