I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this actually was more restrained than I was expecting given the director and the concept. As someone who attempts to be faithful in his Catholicism, I could appreciate how the movie depicts the excesses of certain things and how that leads to corruption, but that there didn’t seem to be an attribution of this to Catholicism itself but instead to human frailties. Private revelation is, unsurprisingly, a fairly large bone of contention within…
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Croupier 1998
I liked what Owen was up to here - a character so flat and unengaging that you completely buy where his arc is headed. But I found most of the movie’s plot to take too long to get going and ultimately just felt disenchanted the more it went on, even though it’s last 20 minutes or so are pretty good.
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Triangle of Sadness 2022
I didn’t realize exactly how crazy this would get, but it did not disappoint.
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Hearts Beat Loud 2018
Oh I like sweet soul lifting movies about characters who fundamentally have no real problems with one another but make minor mistakes because they’re human? BIG SHOCK.
This is so warm and cozy. Nick Offerman’s character clearly wants to play music with his daughter and is coming to grips with the fact that she doesn’t feel about music the same way, and it’s beautiful. There’s a point where he asks if she has a girlfriend and when she’s silent he…
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Something in the Dirt 2022
It’s disquieting to realize that the people in this movie actually do exist out there in the world and are probably, right now, as I type this, believing some of the things these characters talk about in this movie.
A downward spiral into mutual delusion with a climax that is purposefully ambiguous. For me, I’ve seen this done better, but I have to admire the craft here in a movie that had limitations baked into its existence. Enjoyed the scenes outside of the main narrative best.
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Night of the Demons 2009
Where ecstasy and agony become one…minus the ecstasy.
There’s no two ways around it - this is pretty dang bad. The acting, the script, the transmission of demon essence - really, outside of how gorgeous a few of these women are, not much to recommend it. AND the movie goes out of its way to also ruin the beautiful women!
All around ugg.
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The Blob 1958
Don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.
A “parents just don’t understand” movie for the 1950s that frankly needed more blob. I’m also interested in the mechanics of how that ending would have been achieved in the context of the narrative presented.
But fun to see McQueen in something that wasn’t an action movie. You can see the moxie already dripping out of him.
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Catherine Called Birdy 2022
A sweet movie and very funny in a way I didn't expect it to be - all of the inner monologue in this hits and it's just light and breezy.
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Black Christmas 1974
I’ve written before about how at times I can find a movie that was clearly a springboard and inspiration for many movies following it to be not quite my cup of tea, and unfortunately this suffers from that. Black Christmas is clearly something that had to have felt new and vibrant in 1974, and with good reason - things involving the killer that I will not spoil were, for me, particularly good and innovative. Margot Kidder is having fun, and…
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The Brides of Dracula 1960
I may have mentioned this before, but I do like vampires. I particularly enjoy the aspect of the innocent being corrupted by vampires. So when I saw the synopsis for this, I was immediately in.
But oh my goodness, this is sooooo boring. I don’t know if it’s because this movie is obviously from a different era, but there are no thrills to speak of. It has decent performances from Peter Cushing and Yvonne Monlaur, but beyond that there is…
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Who We Are Now 2017
Man, I still love this movie, wish there was more of it. When we got to the last 20 minutes and I realized that somehow we were near the end, I grimaced. Julianne Nicholson kills in this role, portraying both intense vulnerability and an air of danger perfectly and often within seconds of each other.
I still resent a choice by the filmmaker towards the end of this, but I still love this movie anyway. Emma Roberts should have found a way to get more work like this if this is what she’s capable of.