tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43458732421936738842024-03-02T20:47:16.302-05:00The Movie Sleuthalyaia75http://www.blogger.com/profile/12426016206260065847noreply@blogger.comBlogger13959125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-21994448315547776362024-02-29T11:13:00.000-05:002024-02-29T11:13:10.867-05:00Arrow Video: The Shootist (1976) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh2WnWTkbb2pQVbf9lkeAXcLdnsVp1PHHksuviosQAkfLE6uX0opH3e2NjBf_Pesof1mQSFPG20PGiRgfc942GikLgphMTXKa8tFQLH2FkAL0wZsXfmevI-7SD0W8devnQ8ctT7RY0YBh3sZm27FrK9gqLnju9_A9euwHxo79sXWONE3QqB4eBrQVP2s/s2048/The%20Shootist%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="2048" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIh2WnWTkbb2pQVbf9lkeAXcLdnsVp1PHHksuviosQAkfLE6uX0opH3e2NjBf_Pesof1mQSFPG20PGiRgfc942GikLgphMTXKa8tFQLH2FkAL0wZsXfmevI-7SD0W8devnQ8ctT7RY0YBh3sZm27FrK9gqLnju9_A9euwHxo79sXWONE3QqB4eBrQVP2s/w400-h239/The%20Shootist%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="the shootist 1976" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Arrow Video and Paramount Pictures</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">American film worker Don Siegel first started out as a
montage maker for films like <i>Casablanca </i>before moving on to making Academy
Award winning short films like <i>Star in the Night </i>and <i>Hitler Lives </i>and
soon began a feature filmmaking career that remains legendary to this day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having directed everything from the original <i>Invasion
of the Body Snatchers </i>to not one but five features with Clint Eastwood
including <i>Dirty Harry</i>, Siegel never met a genre he couldn’t tackle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already a skilled purveyor of the American
Western, it was only a matter of time before the Old Hollywood filmmaker during
his transition to what became known as New Hollywood of the 1970s that he would
cross paths with one of the genre’s most familiar faces: John Wayne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /> </span><o:p> <br /></o:p>In what ostensibly became the final film of the western
screen legend with his craggy voice, dim eyes and unmistakable personality on
full display, Don Siegel’s <i>The Shootist </i>based on Glendon Swarthout’s
novel for Wayne sort of functions as a <i>Mackintosh and T.J. </i>midwestern vehicle
that gives the actor ample room to give one final parting bow before leaving
the stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a role that hits close to
home for the actor and the audience, Wayne plays John Bernard Books whose
reputation as a master shootist of the Old West precedes him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But around 1901 Books comes down with cancer
as he slowly watches the Old West he knew fade away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make matters worse, his gunslinging past
and news of his declining health attract the unwanted attention of past arch-rivals,
newsmen, a local undertaker and the marshal all wish to see him dead sooner
rather than later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But our aged hero isn’t
ready to go down without a fight just yet.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLZFix0gGhnGTV_CjREy1_h0bSURW3jQZo9skZCaO8xtoHLiDMEuLBu82_c7-4f6CG6-JzYb6f3-AsvJIl6DmBJgqHbzurbJWJ4DTTWw-ilJAmDro8qjqr9Q2rP_in5xXaXDyr_wcexHtHxBhpmXQVY2i-dHqqf9VmdBfb-gVO7s1wXirQiLA8buRxfM/s1200/The%20Shootist%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLZFix0gGhnGTV_CjREy1_h0bSURW3jQZo9skZCaO8xtoHLiDMEuLBu82_c7-4f6CG6-JzYb6f3-AsvJIl6DmBJgqHbzurbJWJ4DTTWw-ilJAmDro8qjqr9Q2rP_in5xXaXDyr_wcexHtHxBhpmXQVY2i-dHqqf9VmdBfb-gVO7s1wXirQiLA8buRxfM/w400-h225/The%20Shootist%20-%201.jpg" title="the shootist 1976" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Handsomely lensed by longtime Don Siegel collaborator Bruce Surtees
and given a subtly moving score by Elmer Bernstein reminiscent of the recurring
anthem of courage permeating Fred Zinnemann’s <i>High Noon</i>, <i>The Shootist
</i>is very much like <i>Mackintosh and T.J. </i>an ode to aging and the
protective passing of the torch from the old to the young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Featuring a star-studded cast of fellow
Hollywood legends Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart, Richard Boone, John Carradine,
Scatman Crothers and even Ron Howard who garnered a Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe nomination, the Paramount Pictures production is an ensemble piece
that is at once tense, tragic but somehow tender as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It goes without saying John Wayne’s own
screen presence in the annals of the American Western remain largely unmatched
but here the aged actor comes across as vulnerable, aware of his past demons
and not looking for sympathy as he gradually accepts his mortality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3i6eCx-bmUgkQIttfA-qxbwa8BTySPp7XX5W46-pUT_dZoEjIsB0j1s6fTzy7FYL6UDa3GDXjWXCHWkj_3zf7XlWlQk-Z6PRWialNS_m8DoNcyHNAorjsGXiSpCMt-UzIXaO7GFmaUtgnG4qwR-wKfb9U4oPZnh_RPnfRPrcurbesC28PzBOaysvqFo/s1283/The%20Shootist%20-%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="1283" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3i6eCx-bmUgkQIttfA-qxbwa8BTySPp7XX5W46-pUT_dZoEjIsB0j1s6fTzy7FYL6UDa3GDXjWXCHWkj_3zf7XlWlQk-Z6PRWialNS_m8DoNcyHNAorjsGXiSpCMt-UzIXaO7GFmaUtgnG4qwR-wKfb9U4oPZnh_RPnfRPrcurbesC28PzBOaysvqFo/w400-h231/The%20Shootist%20-%202.jpg" title="the shootist 1976" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>A bit lighter than your usual western with emphasis on
shifting social mores as well as not being able to completely escape your past
catching up to you, <i>The Shootist </i>is a paean to the then-fading Western
subgenre as well as a testament to the seismic screen presence of its leading
man that once was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the film underperformed
somewhat at the box office, the film became an instant critical favorite and
was named one of the Ten Best Films of 1976 by the National Board of Review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though only garnering an Academy Award
nomination for Art Direction, <i>The Shootist </i>is unmistakably John Wayne’s
film through and through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAlVJIvV5ACYHo4PoPFwDXES5MdVpN8Kyy4fCG9dhGXJ2RMLSM_Pv3LRQCHR68Ntc2X0p7eMsRVxfQqir1bsmj502k0Qtoh_GV-mGJj9aiv5W1Dcg1WMURvMtlxiuUwOmfElEL8ICnVZkJGGQ87RKcrYM9bENfZvTP3DCkdDfVP90QOL1BBYo6LOYebo/s864/The%20Shootist%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="864" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzAlVJIvV5ACYHo4PoPFwDXES5MdVpN8Kyy4fCG9dhGXJ2RMLSM_Pv3LRQCHR68Ntc2X0p7eMsRVxfQqir1bsmj502k0Qtoh_GV-mGJj9aiv5W1Dcg1WMURvMtlxiuUwOmfElEL8ICnVZkJGGQ87RKcrYM9bENfZvTP3DCkdDfVP90QOL1BBYo6LOYebo/w400-h225/The%20Shootist%20-%203.jpg" title="the shootist 1976" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Much like Jason Robards’ dying patriarch in Paul Thomas
Anderson’s <i>Magnolia</i>, Wayne’s own recurring health problems including but
not limited to remission for stomach cancer invariably factored heavily into
the role of an already fading legend.
While not the most action packed or innovative western programmer of its
day, there’s nevertheless something palpable and sincere in Wayne’s final
screen performance that absolutely merits viewing. Arrow Video’s limited deluxe blu-ray restored
in 2K exclusively for this release is great and the film remains an important
chapter in both John Wayne and director Don Siegel’s respective careers in a
film that is at once a straightforward adaptation of the novel as well as
farewell from one of the western genre’s most formidable icons.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-56432649488322898772024-02-29T11:00:00.000-05:002024-02-29T11:19:38.875-05:00New to 4K: Arrow Video: Dark Water (2002) - Reviewed<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYo2XI5t8fxB-vYFbFOQbFWBsXqhVbokq3vQK_NbXdqMRg9hk7KBQVreXyotK1Nk8s8lstthd8evYcQEb01tJ4KE92bVt-z_88FF9JQrHtvaXqjOsKoZ7HA_6N-FCZrtkUQfSjdKSDEFM/s1600/Dark+Water+-+Poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYo2XI5t8fxB-vYFbFOQbFWBsXqhVbokq3vQK_NbXdqMRg9hk7KBQVreXyotK1Nk8s8lstthd8evYcQEb01tJ4KE92bVt-z_88FF9JQrHtvaXqjOsKoZ7HA_6N-FCZrtkUQfSjdKSDEFM/s200/Dark+Water+-+Poster.png" title="dark water" width="196" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n 1998, Japanese director
Hideo Nakata changed the face of J-horror forever with his adaptation of Koji
Suzuki’s novel <i>Ringu</i>, spawning both a
sequel and an expensive Hollywood remake of the same name. Quickly dubbed ‘the horror guy’, Nakata and
Suzuki would reunite once more in 2002 with an adaptation of the short story <i>Dark Water</i>. While not as effectively terrifying as the
infamous <i>Ringu </i>which became the
touchstone of modern J-horror, <i>Dark Water
</i>is just as somber and eerie with its uniquely tragic take on the unfinished
business ghost story. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Concerning a young mother
(Hitomi Kuroki) in the midst of a messy divorce who takes refuge in a worn-down
apartment complex with her six-year-old daughter (Rio Kanno), the nightmare
begins before the family even settles into their new flat. As increasingly strange events occur including
a steadily growing ceiling leak of dirty water, an elevator with a mind of its
own and a child’s backpack that won’t go away ala the rubber ball in <i>The Changeling</i>, the mother soon learns a
little girl vanished from the residence the year prior which may be the key to
the otherworldly phenomenon...or worse… </span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Part character study of a
single mother under duress, part detective story horror thriller, it’s a slow
burn of unfocused dread and contaminated water which gradually builds towards a
shriek. Clearly the work of the same
novelist and film director, you can trace many of the audiovisual tropes, sense
of hopelessness and fixation on demonic little girls with long hair back to </span><i style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Ringu</i><span style="color: #999999; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">.
There’s even a repeated shot in which the camera gazes upon the feet of
a mysterious figure approaching the protagonist, evoking hazy unease as we’re
not sure who is advancing other than the characters’ fear them. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Reuniting with composer Kenji
Kawai of <i>Ringu </i>and cinematographer
Junichiro Hayashi, the sonic and visual design is bleak, desaturated and somber
in tone. Fans of blu-ray will find Arrow
Video’s new disc of <i>Dark Water </i>to be
a grainy grey-scaled watch with scenes where brightness and contrast are
intentionally blown out so every corner of the long dark hallways are visible. Performances
are strong across the board, particularly with Hitomi Kuroki as the frightened
mother in over her head and uncertain as to whether or not what she’s seeing is
real or just a mad hallucination. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvV9HeDRLp9xpaH9RnZRJkf3bOwUo2zsNtqkIKGQaYNL-XuJPD6WMzAbI29MG3D1YzAf-BK-0uHdKiOFl73Dl-pQmK7hy8UWEiZzOSiOwpK09mgu49t77joPD33mdY9yGZjN8Li4ufWF0/s1600/Dark+Water+-+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvV9HeDRLp9xpaH9RnZRJkf3bOwUo2zsNtqkIKGQaYNL-XuJPD6WMzAbI29MG3D1YzAf-BK-0uHdKiOFl73Dl-pQmK7hy8UWEiZzOSiOwpK09mgu49t77joPD33mdY9yGZjN8Li4ufWF0/s640/Dark+Water+-+2.jpg" title="dark water" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Would you care for some of my tasty soup?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the wake of the success of
Gore Verbinski’s remake of <i>Ringu</i>, it
was only a matter of time before 2005 when <i>Dark
Water </i>too saw an American redux with Jennifer Connelly in the maternal
role. Nowhere near as effective as the
original yet not straying too far from the source in translation either, <i>Dark Water </i>in original form and remake
still can’t help but pale in comparison to the film which put Hideo Nakata on
the J-horror map. It hits all the
watermarks of <i>Ringu </i>with similar
audiovisual motifs and kindred themes but never evokes full blown cutis anserina
in the viewer. As it stands, <i>Dark Water </i>is a solid horror thriller
which will put you in a creepy place for two hours but <i>Ringu </i>in all honesty is the one to seek out first.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Score:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZEF3ITm-IOiU-RJm4hs8L7tLpAg5itRwAqy6qpBaJXi0xbOvdPh5KMug1TcrRZNXQOLob3iBdQIMoxSAsKA5BYWru5lO4ST3A_N66P328K7Z93fPp0RzxJAs77RsiFy1ZByuN3xg-CFY/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZEF3ITm-IOiU-RJm4hs8L7tLpAg5itRwAqy6qpBaJXi0xbOvdPh5KMug1TcrRZNXQOLob3iBdQIMoxSAsKA5BYWru5lO4ST3A_N66P328K7Z93fPp0RzxJAs77RsiFy1ZByuN3xg-CFY/s1600/6.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">- Andrew Kotwicki</span></span></div>
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akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-66186591648828471842024-02-28T12:35:00.003-05:002024-02-28T12:35:41.467-05:00Classic Cinema: Random Harvest (1942) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VnvCfcBXZw8wvEu58dH0TkQgXuHavJPliL80zXX_2g-lGELcpA4OA3xfU3E_90JVd5oZyIeEuJc-9Dkztg5T123rbC5NChlfLmg6f8Zv0fKbew3OOEBPo2YBEAREk8DARYOffHwK1z98LRuRZb4E2orG9hgbyb-FfNPuZSE6ZaReHYVa7GD01PRb0ug/s1920/Random%20Harvest%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VnvCfcBXZw8wvEu58dH0TkQgXuHavJPliL80zXX_2g-lGELcpA4OA3xfU3E_90JVd5oZyIeEuJc-9Dkztg5T123rbC5NChlfLmg6f8Zv0fKbew3OOEBPo2YBEAREk8DARYOffHwK1z98LRuRZb4E2orG9hgbyb-FfNPuZSE6ZaReHYVa7GD01PRb0ug/w400-h225/Random%20Harvest%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="random harvest 1942" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of MGM and Warner Brothers</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Actor-director-producer Mervyn LeRoy was one of the longest
running great stock trade directors turned master filmmaking craftsmen to
emerge out of the late 1920s, working from vaudevillian silent comedies all the
way up to the 1960s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Akin to Michael
Curtiz, Robert Wise or Ronald Neame, the film worker who jumped back and forth
between Warner Brothers and MGM over the next few decades with probably his
most famous effort being serving as producer of <i>The Wizard of Oz </i>from
1939.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">While delivering one of the most
famous gangster films of all time with the Edward G. Robinson starring <i>Little
Caesar</i>, it was around the 1940s the director paired up with not one but
four films with British actress Greer Garson designed to appeal to English
markets during the Second World War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
most notable of which was an adaptation of <i>Goodbye Mr. Chips </i>author
James Hilton’s 1941 novel <i>Random Harvest</i>, a post-WWI romantic drama<i> </i>which
paired Garson with Ronald Colman and was among the first films to properly
address the wartime problem of shellshocked amnesia.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSuDUXsK2g3NvU886F9Il8_x5PcVFs5ga1lBF20_7VL6xmqJozItas4BVFdjTSScAq3zjBYDSh7VmKz6gLV1K_C3ULT1rbq2R64b224r4xtztH6fj8Ea2c1iZTGgVg4wR7t5lxNXBuayMDfFBVfKtPifnRW0pYcxfbrR7_xBSF4EbygN2x-r2_gJdyeEA/s819/Random%20Harvest%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="819" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSuDUXsK2g3NvU886F9Il8_x5PcVFs5ga1lBF20_7VL6xmqJozItas4BVFdjTSScAq3zjBYDSh7VmKz6gLV1K_C3ULT1rbq2R64b224r4xtztH6fj8Ea2c1iZTGgVg4wR7t5lxNXBuayMDfFBVfKtPifnRW0pYcxfbrR7_xBSF4EbygN2x-r2_gJdyeEA/w400-h299/Random%20Harvest%20-%201.jpg" title="random harvest 1942" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>In the waning days of WWI, a nameless British officer suffering
from amnesia after being gassed in the trenches dubbed ‘John Smith’ (Ronald
Colman) turns up in a British asylum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
the war ends, Smith walks out the front door of the asylum and wanders off,
crossing paths with a stage performer named Paula Ridgeway (Greer Garson) who
takes him under her wing and soon they fall in love and marry, rooming at a
small cottage with their young son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But
after an opportunity to pursue a writing career in Liverpool ends in a car
accident, his past memory banks are jogged and his memory of being Charles
Rainier a wealthy heir to a profitable business and his newly formed memories
as ‘John Smith’ have subsequently been erased.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Desperate to find out what happened to her husband, Paula tracks Charles
down to his office and takes up a job as his secretary under her biological
name Margaret Hanson, hopeful her presence around him will trigger memories of
their marriage.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4t8LsJXBD_UDPNd_t0Ad7lNlVHk4hNBMFEUkm7bIFOuGyCx-hZWhCn9hqNloQTXRpxC6f1PuDAOVW18mh-plhjKoNmdpfwWOQgpUR1IReBdon3N4Ivlndt1zQn5HhiKr72lrI4tVz_80KJXE5kpsCXzfWd24yfpyvJohxNVPz6B0exF-VvaM8FJE5zc/s600/Random%20Harvest%20-%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="600" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4t8LsJXBD_UDPNd_t0Ad7lNlVHk4hNBMFEUkm7bIFOuGyCx-hZWhCn9hqNloQTXRpxC6f1PuDAOVW18mh-plhjKoNmdpfwWOQgpUR1IReBdon3N4Ivlndt1zQn5HhiKr72lrI4tVz_80KJXE5kpsCXzfWd24yfpyvJohxNVPz6B0exF-VvaM8FJE5zc/w400-h304/Random%20Harvest%20-%202.jpg" title="random harvest 1942" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>A study of postwar amnesia and/or PTSD and displaced memory
banks as well as a testament to the power of love trying to work through all of
these confounding psychological loopholes, the film adapted by Arthur Wimperis,
George Froeschel and Claudine West differs from the novel some in revealing Margaret
Hanson to be Paula Ridgeway early on rather than keeping it a surprise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film also utilizes flashbacks hinting at
some of Charles Rainier’s combat experiences that led to his shell shocking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">In Mervyn LeRoy’s hands, the film is a sweeping
postwar romance filled with great longing and passion as our dedicated heroine
Paula/Margaret sticks through time and tide to get back with her husband who
continues to get further lost within himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ronald Colman though older looking than Greer Garson does a solid job
conveying the deer-in-headlights look of confusion and uncertainty as though
something is amiss but the man can’t quite put his finger on why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Garson of course is fantastic though she
would win the Academy Award that same year for another film <i>Mrs. Miniver</i>. Also fans of <i>It's a Wonderful Life </i>actor Henry Travers as Dr. Sims.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCx6G2tLdRx4sfSWb6Ar-rR5Z-Vbb1jiA1q3zHbupGiNnN1HjMGpbNtCqrk_GSk_xhIwfkud4-5HiptGpDmAslOJC7qbejXUvWMoJDFzWyuPiD0QiSl179Gc4nu_kis7VBH9pH4E2dLe26miFQX-P7q3aNcqsi-cly9OSYgp_Vc2Uxz8u_2OSMqCi6fnY/s1280/Random%20Harvest%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1280" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCx6G2tLdRx4sfSWb6Ar-rR5Z-Vbb1jiA1q3zHbupGiNnN1HjMGpbNtCqrk_GSk_xhIwfkud4-5HiptGpDmAslOJC7qbejXUvWMoJDFzWyuPiD0QiSl179Gc4nu_kis7VBH9pH4E2dLe26miFQX-P7q3aNcqsi-cly9OSYgp_Vc2Uxz8u_2OSMqCi6fnY/w400-h291/Random%20Harvest%20-%203.jpg" title="random harvest 1942" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Given an evocative original score by <i>The Wizard of Oz </i>composer
Herbert Stothart, <i>Random Harvest </i>from the outset and even through its
whimsical romance carries an air of melancholy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For all of the warmth on display, raging quietly in the epicenter is a
sense of anxiety as though the wartime demons that haunted Charles Rainer are
far from leaving him alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there’s
Ukrainian born <i>Brigadoon </i>cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg’s smoky,
romantically foggy camerawork reminiscent of David Lean’s <i>Brief Encounter </i>or
Max Ophuls’ <i>Letter from an Unknown Woman</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stylistically the film does a good job of
creating open opacity for the protagonist’s lack of direction or purpose before
shifting gears into a picturesque portrait of organized, compartmentalized luxury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /> </span><o:p> <br /></o:p>Produced around $1.2 million, the film became a massive commercial
success at the box office, raking in around $8 million and garnering seven Academy
Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting
Actress Susan Peters as Charles Rainier’s former love interest Kitty. Sadly the film didn’t win any of the nominations
and critics were all but underwhelmed by the somber tragicomic postwar
melodrama. In the years since however,
including but not limited to the AFI’s 100 Years…100 Passions list and the emergence
of several Indian and Pakistani remakes, <i>Random Harvest </i>has found its
rightful place in the canon of all time great screen romances. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkbGIosKWJlU5gRYOyBjAFO_PUJVUYYSJev3SlFFIkUP71FaRmcC5mvZWdi4g0yYsG8SsqG5eg7Fevqr1ue7fXGm_-y3NzLYm81_OjBD2Fdy55NCJXIy2Au18M-VK4Oj6-TCrBoDWUskLOiSW9M1nBdDaRCepGHgFUA1OcSMxu7SV90d1ax8_OaI8yXw/s952/Random%20Harvest%20-%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="952" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkkbGIosKWJlU5gRYOyBjAFO_PUJVUYYSJev3SlFFIkUP71FaRmcC5mvZWdi4g0yYsG8SsqG5eg7Fevqr1ue7fXGm_-y3NzLYm81_OjBD2Fdy55NCJXIy2Au18M-VK4Oj6-TCrBoDWUskLOiSW9M1nBdDaRCepGHgFUA1OcSMxu7SV90d1ax8_OaI8yXw/w400-h303/Random%20Harvest%20-%204.jpg" title="random harvest 1942" width="400" /></a></div></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Certainly among the best postwar films leading
up to William Wyler’s <i>The Best Years of Our Lives</i>, Mervyn LeRoy’s underrated
romantic epic seen now is every bit as achingly desperately longing for lost love
now as it was when audiences first saw it in 1942. Though the film would be overshadowed by
other adaptations of James Hilton’s novels, it nevertheless remains an
important chapter in LeRoy’s as well as Garson’s illustrious careers.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-55609638727958324562024-02-28T08:22:00.000-05:002024-02-28T08:22:58.534-05:00Now Streaming: The Woman Under the Stage (2023) - Reviewed<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsGVa26R9yEetT1d3dLXvseQAnAwaPQks6xSiLduS5eHA4goZnKyVaYMMO9OnhHUvc5vGi6_8i9elK40uF3954hEdlCPP_Tg6lxP0JKPfuhK1Mkp6PWG-J7wGJpI2_VjUn4M8w8F2d-A7_x082ArnM8LG0ElomrXgqNb4j-lPPG1sqzIHl6ZHnaWmCkfE/s1280/maxresdefault.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsGVa26R9yEetT1d3dLXvseQAnAwaPQks6xSiLduS5eHA4goZnKyVaYMMO9OnhHUvc5vGi6_8i9elK40uF3954hEdlCPP_Tg6lxP0JKPfuhK1Mkp6PWG-J7wGJpI2_VjUn4M8w8F2d-A7_x082ArnM8LG0ElomrXgqNb4j-lPPG1sqzIHl6ZHnaWmCkfE/w400-h225/maxresdefault.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">Images Courtesy of ITN Films</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Films about the craft of acting are commonplace. The
genres spans from introspective drama to psychological horror. The
consistent theme that runs throughout them, regardless of approach, is in how
dedication can often border on insanity. Ezekiel Decker's sophomore
feature film, <i>The Woman Under Stage</i> fuses independent horror with
chamber drama sensibilities to create a unique journey into a haunted
production. Featuring an unforgettable central performance, unsettling
imagery, and a unique narrative framework, this is a memorable excursion into
the dark side of performance arts. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Whitney, a down on her luck actress is given a unique, and
possibly suspect opportunity: To participate in a mysterious play production
while living on set with the rest of the cast to ensure commitment. As
the lines of reality begin to blur, the pursuit of fame threatens to undo not
only the production, but Whitney's very soul. Decker cowrote the
script with Robert Gaemaehlich and Logan Rinaldi. While the overall vibe
may remind the viewer of Chuck Palahnuik's <i>Haunted</i>, visions of <i>House
of Leaves</i> and <i>Starry Eyes</i> cannot be avoided and the experience works
better with this in mind. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvJM3nSsVWfL-KX2RwKQzxPnN4fLsFQm_eaWKEt1rAkRJY5MimEuvpi0x6Oo1DHxkzwZ7MJRp3lZyfSmjuG8HlWOhkjbdSiZYkkDQpwVpLdixDD8uLwXU-r4n9retgpOXhhy1R7V0tDnU2to5rryt8NuRJsO4cSC_LT2jAzuwbGy95F4m0p8Hd9nf3xm7/s2880/MV5BZWZiZTNmMzMtYTM3MC00MmY5LWE3MGItOWU5NTAyYjkyNTU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjI2ODQ0OTE@._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="2880" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvJM3nSsVWfL-KX2RwKQzxPnN4fLsFQm_eaWKEt1rAkRJY5MimEuvpi0x6Oo1DHxkzwZ7MJRp3lZyfSmjuG8HlWOhkjbdSiZYkkDQpwVpLdixDD8uLwXU-r4n9retgpOXhhy1R7V0tDnU2to5rryt8NuRJsO4cSC_LT2jAzuwbGy95F4m0p8Hd9nf3xm7/w400-h150/MV5BZWZiZTNmMzMtYTM3MC00MmY5LWE3MGItOWU5NTAyYjkyNTU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjI2ODQ0OTE@._V1_.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Jessica Dawn Willis gives an unforgettable central performance as Whitney. One of the strongest elements of Decker's vision is in the blurring of reality and the surreal, constantly asking whether the ghosts at the heart of the tale are in fact real and this question is posited within the dynamics of a theater troupe, complete with the expected tropes and new surprises. An air of mystery hangs over ever scene and the way Willis' Whitney slowly descends into madness and uncertainty is both a testament to her skill and a powerful example of commitment. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Evan Burns cinematography has an almost voyeuristic quality
that is the perfect accoutrement. The bulk of the scenes combine the
sensibilities of a chamber piece with an almost supernatural documentary
ambiance as the audience silently watches this unusual and possibly cursed
performance unfold. Dark shadows and grim visuals flood the optics to
mirror the conflict within Whitney as her sanity is challenged alongside her
quest for fame and recognition and the result is an exceptionally disquieting dissertation
on the cost of such foolish errands. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXW81_u77UCAnJieM90mGoxtj3V3eLBsrAzMfyUgzcfjaDokqe5v1W4vF891OJpSuV7TH786I_G18c5yD68QTxRAM-ZzNDrX3r_u3YhMt9KaYSkFQqoU0qdKWh-BBujNmhzymhI8duQoPfMGx9YResoFmONN20aAUhVKphos4FgR0kLXQDn1cAyHOmpLo9/s307/tubi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="164" data-original-width="307" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXW81_u77UCAnJieM90mGoxtj3V3eLBsrAzMfyUgzcfjaDokqe5v1W4vF891OJpSuV7TH786I_G18c5yD68QTxRAM-ZzNDrX3r_u3YhMt9KaYSkFQqoU0qdKWh-BBujNmhzymhI8duQoPfMGx9YResoFmONN20aAUhVKphos4FgR0kLXQDn1cAyHOmpLo9/w400-h214/tubi.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #999999;">Now streaming on Tubi, </span><i style="color: #999999;">The Woman Under the Stage</i><span style="color: #999999;"> is a grim and frightening horror story told in a vintage style that displays its creators' clear devotion to the genre. Excellent performances and craftsmanship combine to present a sly dissent on the topic of fame and those who blindly pursue it. If </span><i style="color: #999999;">Black Swan</i><span style="color: #999999;">, </span><i style="color: #999999;">Perfect Blue</i><span style="color: #999999;">, and other similar films interest you, this is a must see.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Kyle Jonathan</span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p>Kyle Jonathan http://www.blogger.com/profile/13836235592101745522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-65562435620382127852024-02-27T20:08:00.002-05:002024-02-27T20:08:40.274-05:00The Spice Must Flow: Dune: Part Two Expecting A $170 Million Opening <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhG-18xqA3jHm3jy4ZyvfaCUWme7cmvNGO9O61FgySu17_DKnMGUyNO2nrm2kdn8BzRMXHRLkofO5A31cJNPW3z6dIIZNu8cZawDrq4c6_oWB5BY05cx1OKqP8Rou50basKzK7odcDJrd2T_JqqrMKey80IKClXzp7KnyKUp98zeEdgOTUnxc-UmomDRiz/s1280/dune2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhG-18xqA3jHm3jy4ZyvfaCUWme7cmvNGO9O61FgySu17_DKnMGUyNO2nrm2kdn8BzRMXHRLkofO5A31cJNPW3z6dIIZNu8cZawDrq4c6_oWB5BY05cx1OKqP8Rou50basKzK7odcDJrd2T_JqqrMKey80IKClXzp7KnyKUp98zeEdgOTUnxc-UmomDRiz/w400-h225/dune2.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">Image courtesy WB</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Two is looking at an otherworldly box office this coming weekend. The sequel to his 2021 movie is eyeing a $170 million global haul in its opening frame if all calculations are correct. This would put it well beyond the opening for the first movie which came at the tail end of a global pandemic and the re-opening of theaters. Early forecasts look like it may garner a domestic opening of $80 million with WB keeping their estimations a bit more conservative at $65 million. Either way, this part two will be the biggest cinematic opening of the year and a surefire success which will lead to Villeneuve and crew getting to make their third film which has not been officially green lit yet. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's looking like it will also bring in another $80-90 million from foreign markets which will be another huge success for WB at this point. The first film opened domestically to $41 million in 2021 with a grand total of $434.8 million worldwide. It's box office was mildly hampered by the movie having a simultaneous streaming release on HBO MAX. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">No matter what this looks to be a surefire hit for Warner Bros. meaning that a sequel is most likely to go ahead in the near future. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">-CG</span></div><p></p>Chris Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13972854242624389907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-52695012522089744582024-02-27T16:29:00.002-05:002024-02-27T16:39:32.144-05:00New to Blu: Second Run: Twilight (1990) - Reviewed <p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFE3Z0kHRx_ain2vaBunDeUTOCFxtVssiIVPYBnltSnVuoadoT8sgcxdEzL5wOUnVrhWL5n_TUEbk5Pvf9lljPatX-Do26sP_tXMOcD3NRPl-eL7utNtY3q93wp9rHVPK-JnuQnSzn6U5JFEfhFLXDhu0lEvpKOtm6BDZpdJLVAoqZVv2l4kKRzZADRg/s1600/IMG_0514.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWFE3Z0kHRx_ain2vaBunDeUTOCFxtVssiIVPYBnltSnVuoadoT8sgcxdEzL5wOUnVrhWL5n_TUEbk5Pvf9lljPatX-Do26sP_tXMOcD3NRPl-eL7utNtY3q93wp9rHVPK-JnuQnSzn6U5JFEfhFLXDhu0lEvpKOtm6BDZpdJLVAoqZVv2l4kKRzZADRg/w400-h225/IMG_0514.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Images courtesy of Second Run</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The main attraction of mystery stories is the idea that, eventually, they will be solved, and all the puzzle pieces will fit neatly together at the end. In real life, that isn't always the case, and often, one is left without closure, resulting in anguish and uncertainty. György Fehér's <i>Szürkület</i>, AKA <i>Twilight</i> (1990), explores the latter notion: the chaos that swirls around real-life murder cases.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Péter Haumann plays the Chief Detective, a solemn and grizzled man who is close to retirement. A rash of child murders has gripped a small Hungarian village in fear, and the killer, who is ominously dubbed The Giant, is still on the loose. He appears in a nearby forest, occasionally tempting the children with chocolates, and after he gains their trust, he kills them, leaving their bodies discarded in the dirt. He haunts the edges of the town in shadows, appearing in the children's drawings like a mythical demon from local legends.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Although <i>Twilight</i> is based on a story by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, it only takes a few details from it and fills the rest of it with ambiguities and asides. The village is oppressive and claustrophobic, often surrounded by fog or being pelted with rain. The stark black-and-white cinematography drains the rest of the life out of the atmosphere, often pulling back for wide shots of people grieving or investigations. The editing is also interesting; they hold onto many shots for about ten seconds longer than a traditional film would. It makes the pacing feel artificial and stilted but in a purposeful way. The effect is quite unsettling. Every character feels like they are hiding something; outside of a few, they feel like they are acting in a play, a performance for the protagonist perhaps? When he questions suspects, they speak in riddles, and the deeper he digs into the case, the more it eludes him.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS5oE4CbEkGZ7XaPPH8foHuVXdDhW3mMVV65KONBW-EYk0a_iNivRXBBhVt7X6V9uQClYBKmUNm7gl6fGnh_Jf_2pldxXy_oLiVcJMlskdXdDogeNxcK7sHZGaKFyRoouNXHpNJgw76O2zi89V39d9ntfIpE6pk-dkI-CSIQCdZm8MtTZKsIYfZS_H6c/s960/IMG_0599.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS5oE4CbEkGZ7XaPPH8foHuVXdDhW3mMVV65KONBW-EYk0a_iNivRXBBhVt7X6V9uQClYBKmUNm7gl6fGnh_Jf_2pldxXy_oLiVcJMlskdXdDogeNxcK7sHZGaKFyRoouNXHpNJgw76O2zi89V39d9ntfIpE6pk-dkI-CSIQCdZm8MtTZKsIYfZS_H6c/w400-h225/IMG_0599.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">On the edges of the main procedural plot, there are uncomfortable insinuations. K (János Derzsi), Chief's younger partner, seems to be hiding his own dark secrets. His wife screams at him at the dinner table, pelting him with her fists while sobbing hysterically, accusing him of being a drunk and a philanderer. When he questions the children about the murders, he is too familiar with them and softly caresses their faces. Something is wrong with him, but it's impossible to determine what it is specifically, and Chief doesn't have time to explore his failings and keep up with the investigation. It's another missing piece that may never be solved.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">On the surface, <i>Twilight</i> is about a police investigation, but in a more significant sense, it is about the battle between good and evil and the limited amount of time and resources available to fight it. Chief is running out of time as he is close to retirement, and his obsession with the case mirrors his obsession with his sense of self as a detective. He is close to losing his purpose in life, and solving this case would give him a small amount of self-actualization. Like in real life, however, sometimes things stay mired in an enigma forever, and there is no definitive answer. In this way, Twilight veers into existential horror instead of a mystery, one man's war with the yawning void and one he cannot ultimately win.</span></div></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rjklgA3lJ-pWODGswJSpUvxt3cN9VoepW03a8K-NKOWHLy5kZvA96ZklLcVPJr1Tv4hWx_htmmzlcFJNG35vb3A7idxhBh6MznDGqxnuWSmXCQ1mSH-0vGBcbGWuZca2Iacd5C_rAFKxpIpE9qgTJJss8v-nPlGCHHfWdU7HOOmXhWe5qhJv8AsQ7fQ/s587/twilightBD.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="505" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rjklgA3lJ-pWODGswJSpUvxt3cN9VoepW03a8K-NKOWHLy5kZvA96ZklLcVPJr1Tv4hWx_htmmzlcFJNG35vb3A7idxhBh6MznDGqxnuWSmXCQ1mSH-0vGBcbGWuZca2Iacd5C_rAFKxpIpE9qgTJJss8v-nPlGCHHfWdU7HOOmXhWe5qhJv8AsQ7fQ/s320/twilightBD.jpg" width="275" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><b><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Second Run Blu-ray Extras:</span></b><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Twilight (Szürkület, 1990) presented from the new 4K restoration by the National Film Institute Hungary - Film Archive, supervised and approved by cinematographer Miklós Gurbán.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• A series of exclusive newly filmed appreciations by filmmakers:</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Quay Brothers</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Peter Strickland</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">James Norton</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">plus critic and author Chris Fujiwara.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Newly filmed interviews with Twilight editor Mária Czeilk and cinematographer Miklós Gurbán.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Booklet featuring an expansive new essay by filmmaker and curator Stanley Schtinter.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Trailer</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• New and improved English subtitle translation.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• World premiere on Blu-ray.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Region free Blu-ray (A/B/C).</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Michelle Kisner</span></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><br /><p></p></div>Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12891321763081294306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-75200534563434555222024-02-26T15:56:00.001-05:002024-02-26T15:56:22.064-05:00Kino Lorber: Suspect Zero (2004) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlTB3c51wZX79K3gJ1Gw2bjGOtuSfRcEZ_3udn8belATY7P74CRX0BVl4DvE8afrydKaL7NyD9XKWypFAB9OHoSVQUBuAe2wCXjPtgRktXESDhOGnThyLHPhzEb2v8T8-jmzX7BCkU7-I4uBpNLJGspYE5cJWDssaN3UbPoVec5yaUoeX4JRknwicTyE/s1440/Suspect%20Zero%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1440" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAlTB3c51wZX79K3gJ1Gw2bjGOtuSfRcEZ_3udn8belATY7P74CRX0BVl4DvE8afrydKaL7NyD9XKWypFAB9OHoSVQUBuAe2wCXjPtgRktXESDhOGnThyLHPhzEb2v8T8-jmzX7BCkU7-I4uBpNLJGspYE5cJWDssaN3UbPoVec5yaUoeX4JRknwicTyE/w400-h225/Suspect%20Zero%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="suspect zero 2004" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Kino Lorber and Paramount Pictures</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The brilliant filmmaking career of Edmund Elias Merhige aka
E. Elias Merhige is sadly as well as inexplicably short lived in the annals of
visionary experimental sensory excesses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Starting in 1989 with his years-in-the-making student performance art
film <i>Begotten </i>before landing work with Nicolas Cage’s production of <i>Shadow
of the Vampire </i>in the year 2000 featuring an Oscar nominated performance by
Willem Dafoe opposite John Malkovich, things looked promising for the gothic
horror infused indie darling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Characterized
by flickering grainy images of an almost spiritual metaphysical manifest where
the film itself is like a Pentecostal text, Merhige quickly established himself
as a formidable as well as intellectually provocative audiovisual artist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /> </span><o:p> <br /></o:p>And then came his third feature <i>Suspect Zero </i>in 2004,
a surreal crime detective thriller of sorts with leanings towards ESP ability
or more specifically ‘remote viewing’ starring Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart and
Carrie-Anne Moss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite being a sizable
project featuring star power, a screenplay by new hotshot Hollywood writer Zak
Penn, cinematography by the legendary Michael Chapman and pulsating brooding
score by Clint Mansell, the film was a huge failure with mixed to middling
reviews and Merhige’s career seemed to screech to a halt with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rumor has it Tom Cruise was debating starring
in this project spoken of the same breath as <i>Vanilla Sky </i>by way of <i>Se7en</i>
but he chose Stanley Kubrick’s <i>Eyes Wide Shut </i>over it, a career move
that seems to have dodged a bullet.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPBq_dA0jXRusgLggwUhl65UPAQCreonSVvalhH1v00CkXoEK6XQK-f1uz6s5JK-yh6qxr25KaIssi9GD8RB5FFszkZgfHHi5mYyNAmROHAWczkPbnlozxUnzP6HJhzITc7Qqt9Hf4AqBCm4yotw_ZlEg8Yojd0LyvCf-PGkY8wfL55adPwWhwHLDPD8k/s3840/Suspect%20Zero%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPBq_dA0jXRusgLggwUhl65UPAQCreonSVvalhH1v00CkXoEK6XQK-f1uz6s5JK-yh6qxr25KaIssi9GD8RB5FFszkZgfHHi5mYyNAmROHAWczkPbnlozxUnzP6HJhzITc7Qqt9Hf4AqBCm4yotw_ZlEg8Yojd0LyvCf-PGkY8wfL55adPwWhwHLDPD8k/w400-h225/Suspect%20Zero%20-%201.jpg" title="suspect zero 2004" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Years later, thanks to the efforts of Kino Lorber who have
given the film a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative and an
HDR/Dolby Vision passthrough and the generous participation of the film’s
mercurial director, filmgoers now have a chance to take a look at one of the
strangest, most audacious if not shakily landed serial killer thrillers of the
2000s as well as track one of the most extraordinary filmmakers of the late
1980s and onward on his way to petering out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Included on the disc are an audio commentary by the director, an
archival four-part featurette, a ‘remote viewing’ demonstration and an unused
ending with optional director commentary.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBHJLfbLMxXzGYEuxHFJoSYeaU32JafeaiSey654X8X2fmEagvA8mRdJs2PsngOC5LR_npfv0VYLn7ni_kk6znjvsUSKtKPXV7Ia4_YKkGhy390Rk7_r6MmvKr84bZrNJW62j5Iy0AQxQNmsdVcFh1sWNR0_l7zZpMOEG9uRAHAFd5ZdXJefHNhP7QTx4/s1050/Suspect%20Zero%20-%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="1050" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBHJLfbLMxXzGYEuxHFJoSYeaU32JafeaiSey654X8X2fmEagvA8mRdJs2PsngOC5LR_npfv0VYLn7ni_kk6znjvsUSKtKPXV7Ia4_YKkGhy390Rk7_r6MmvKr84bZrNJW62j5Iy0AQxQNmsdVcFh1sWNR0_l7zZpMOEG9uRAHAFd5ZdXJefHNhP7QTx4/w400-h216/Suspect%20Zero%20-%202.jpg" title="suspect zero 2004" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Following tormented FBI agent Thomas Mackelway (Aaron
Eckhart) who is tasked with investigating a string of strange murders with his
former partner Frank Kulok (Carrie-Anne Moss), his trail brings him to a
character named Benjamin O’Ryan (Ben Kingsley) who claims to have taken part in
a secret program that enables ‘remote viewing’ or telepathically transmitted
images from the mind of a serial killer in the act of a crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a screwy concept that doesn’t always
work but the actors do their best to sell it with Kingsley looking ominous and
threatening ala <i>Sexy Beast </i>while director Merhige ratchets up the psychedelia
and black-and-white grainy montages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
film itself feels somewhere between the aforementioned <i>Se7en </i>with oddly
gothic overtones from Richard Stanley’s <i>Dust Devil</i> while also being a
precognitive psychological thriller with hints of <i>Minority Report </i>and <i>Zodiac
</i>peppered in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFBxP-Rs471jiHSmA2ERVJXE11YGGZFC0-YT4kV6tfoT7cJbYYZbd5bic-pzvNtaMpE7LdVcPYlH0q2VVVrbt2XztcRyjJU6H8vIJ70K9uSlobDHEwHU7UYnm3dS_JFdssVGOFJ-yUNO9seTpAE02uDTkusGdusyvi32KIo6MvV9MdFaJCYM_y2ZheTE/s3840/Suspect%20Zero%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2080" data-original-width="3840" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFBxP-Rs471jiHSmA2ERVJXE11YGGZFC0-YT4kV6tfoT7cJbYYZbd5bic-pzvNtaMpE7LdVcPYlH0q2VVVrbt2XztcRyjJU6H8vIJ70K9uSlobDHEwHU7UYnm3dS_JFdssVGOFJ-yUNO9seTpAE02uDTkusGdusyvi32KIo6MvV9MdFaJCYM_y2ZheTE/w400-h216/Suspect%20Zero%20-%203.jpg" title="suspect zero 2004" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Supposedly loosely based on a real 1978 Fort Meade, Maryland
project called <i>The Stargate Project </i>involving investigating the
possibility of ‘remote viewing’ for military applications, <i>Suspect Zero </i>is
even for an already eccentric filmmaker a truly really very weird Hollywood
thriller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Conceptually dealing in familiar
terrain but with a twist that threatens to undermine everything that came
before, its an ambitious project that perhaps bites off more than it can chew
despite maintaining a thoroughly bleak overtone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ending up as something closer to, say, <i>The
Empty Man </i>than <i>The Silence of the Lambs</i>, <i>Suspect Zero</i> while
well intentioned seems to self-terminate as it nears inconclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCALvvxhqoO_kEIDglu33VSYnEQgKz2QEBySf1OhhHsEnwGQBfsfg8X5RdDFBYxMK-MOT99mGKIzsuSn8rR1cmYZ8X7pHbRI-AxYb57PukGxkPg_GZJVdnMRPyfV5nH9ew8P0YHSg0ix-oK9SHV5xc4YWXccFtYn-L-rO3koYhphFZPszBj6qiwA6F0zg/s3840/Suspect%20Zero%20-%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCALvvxhqoO_kEIDglu33VSYnEQgKz2QEBySf1OhhHsEnwGQBfsfg8X5RdDFBYxMK-MOT99mGKIzsuSn8rR1cmYZ8X7pHbRI-AxYb57PukGxkPg_GZJVdnMRPyfV5nH9ew8P0YHSg0ix-oK9SHV5xc4YWXccFtYn-L-rO3koYhphFZPszBj6qiwA6F0zg/w400-h225/Suspect%20Zero%20-%204.jpg" title="suspect zero 2004" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>While an interesting footnote in the director’s career with
an otherwise solid cast that’s never boring, it is indeed kind of sad to see
such a promising wholly original filmmaker’s career end up here. Nevertheless, the Kino Lorber disc release is
solid for Merhige fans keen on eating up everything on his plate. Fingers crossed this means Kino will work out
a deal to release both <i>Begotten </i>and <i>Shadow of the Vampire </i>due
proper. In any case, maybe the weirdest
major Hollywood film of the 2000s nobody saw let alone talked about, a shame
considering it is from one of the most talked about directors of the new
millennia. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-82762155435641590102024-02-26T11:31:00.000-05:002024-02-26T11:31:12.869-05:00MVD Visual: Punto Rojo (2023) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxPPyD_yaJ2sLqEse__CudqzEqnUXzHNmDU9AI1E6Nj8lzD7Vl_P_oQJmQk-PkREwia_fLFg9L7c1DCxs_FvZ3bUvJhONgTnuGBgl6Ac3j7Ph9_2g4guzOmF9xENQgcBMDplaQ49LPWc_tw1KlrtM80nN22ERds93SO2ATiG-UPvzpa4ToOU3cMfRbQg/s912/Punto%20Rojo%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="530" data-original-width="912" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLxPPyD_yaJ2sLqEse__CudqzEqnUXzHNmDU9AI1E6Nj8lzD7Vl_P_oQJmQk-PkREwia_fLFg9L7c1DCxs_FvZ3bUvJhONgTnuGBgl6Ac3j7Ph9_2g4guzOmF9xENQgcBMDplaQ49LPWc_tw1KlrtM80nN22ERds93SO2ATiG-UPvzpa4ToOU3cMfRbQg/w400-h233/Punto%20Rojo%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="punto rojo 2023" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of MVD Visual</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Argentinian action-oriented horror with a penchant for
explicit transgressive violence and gore thanks to such recent sucker punchers
as <i>Terrified</i>, <i>Monos </i>and most recently <i>When Evil Lurks</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most explosive form of new extreme horror
since the emergence of South Korean and then Taiwanese horror, the Argentinian film
scene is proving to be fertile ground for a new kind of shock thriller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enter action-comedy writer-director Nic
Loreti best known for fighter crime comedy <i>Diablo </i>and his meta
reinterpretation of <i>Justice League </i>with <i>Kryptonite</i> whose 2021
film <i>Punto Rojo </i>(not to be confused with the Netflix drama of the same
name) is making its disc debut thanks to MVD Entertainment Group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somewhere between the hyperviolent comedy
antics of his previous films and a plot twisting neo-noir with some startling
developments ahead, <i>Punto Rojo</i> proves to be an edgy, at times absurdly
over the top action thriller with more than a little nihilistic regard for the
scenario in general.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5GoJIVougUqgLrubS7NB40oao3jSzY3IOzAKU20oPYJtjaXwututdf5p_PgyKtH0jiDwPHxVGBvhTs4dHzlkv35_anhrmCBoX2uMWyy97GwotSFui5F8tZPbHlNfbo2GHsI9bwP1bFYau5lAJS_Tn6zZUhvU6XXk8OX3KWwij-clN26HZCoDBD7mkqQ/s800/Punto%20Rojo%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="800" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE5GoJIVougUqgLrubS7NB40oao3jSzY3IOzAKU20oPYJtjaXwututdf5p_PgyKtH0jiDwPHxVGBvhTs4dHzlkv35_anhrmCBoX2uMWyy97GwotSFui5F8tZPbHlNfbo2GHsI9bwP1bFYau5lAJS_Tn6zZUhvU6XXk8OX3KWwij-clN26HZCoDBD7mkqQ/w400-h263/Punto%20Rojo%20-%201.jpg" title="punto rojo 2023" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Told in a Tarantino-esque structure of jumping from present
to past and so forth, we meet brutal hooligan Diego (Demian Salomon the hero of
<i>When Evil Lurks</i>) who bets on a racing club for Argentina’s greatest
soccer teams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sitting in his car whiling
away the time phoning in on the quiz show, a man in military uniform falls from
the sky unto his windshield <i>Collateral </i>style followed by the arrival of a
mysterious, tough and chiseled female secret agent named Paula (Mariana
Anghileri from <i>On the Third Day</i>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After confronting and handcuffing Diego while asking about a ruthless
con man named Edgardo (Edgardo Castro) housing a secret that could change the
whole of the American political landscape who just so happens to be bound and
gagged in the trunk of Diego’s car, the battle is on between to the death
between this unlikely trio.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj57ZUgU5Nuek1_5TO8IPMTUZIUhKyX6vert3CZ0N9YR12agYj9WczpdvQA_gcP58xKAXj9PVfydLh1F2ADl8AsNBd7rtnaOeplDeB_t42bxuwdovSfAQXmImCTRgrh_vcxoPdKzEKFC8so8ZKnjvUxiK20BUlMMasYgMAlayCoq9CFYzbM9dFC7aRJGhU/s1080/Punto%20Rojo%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj57ZUgU5Nuek1_5TO8IPMTUZIUhKyX6vert3CZ0N9YR12agYj9WczpdvQA_gcP58xKAXj9PVfydLh1F2ADl8AsNBd7rtnaOeplDeB_t42bxuwdovSfAQXmImCTRgrh_vcxoPdKzEKFC8so8ZKnjvUxiK20BUlMMasYgMAlayCoq9CFYzbM9dFC7aRJGhU/w400-h225/Punto%20Rojo%20-%203.jpg" title="punto rojo 2023" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>A taut little nihilistic thriller boiled down essentially to
three characters that more than serves up the hard near-unwatchable extreme
violence fans of Argentinian horror are pining for, <i>Punto Rojo </i>is a
rough and ragged ride that, again, feels a bit like an Argentinian <i>Reservoir
Dogs </i>or <i>Go </i>with a fraction of both film’s budgets put together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Largely a one-man show with writer-director-producer-editor
doing most of the heavy lifting while Pablo Sala’s Junkie XL inspired score is
suitably abrasive against the rugged yet picturesque widescreen digital
cinematography by <i>When Evil Lurks </i>cameraman Mariano Suarez, the film looks
and sounds appropriately gritty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
ostensibly boiled down to only three main characters in the open desert with
vast implications beyond the confines of the film, all three actors give strong
performances with Demian Salomon as a stock-trade crook who gradually has to
put up with prosthetic makeup effects and Mariana Anghileri channeling Jenette
Goldstein in her tough female assassin.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC04xJyeFrCMAXBOChzvmOPapFlnABp8W25ud49de1mYXpY8i0x8wCkDYg0YZROA99iEGM-zrXPX8rRUNpV6O8xwEn5Zr5ObwolWdrbempiKI_MT5MW7_Uq1JkoFllN78cbgwBL7KVgKDA14mVGEdpuu58O5rZje-eudANwXoqSgPYS3eYcBGuRQz9_Bg/s1000/Punto%20Rojo%20-%202.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC04xJyeFrCMAXBOChzvmOPapFlnABp8W25ud49de1mYXpY8i0x8wCkDYg0YZROA99iEGM-zrXPX8rRUNpV6O8xwEn5Zr5ObwolWdrbempiKI_MT5MW7_Uq1JkoFllN78cbgwBL7KVgKDA14mVGEdpuu58O5rZje-eudANwXoqSgPYS3eYcBGuRQz9_Bg/w400-h266/Punto%20Rojo%20-%202.jpeg" title="punto rojo 2023" width="400" /></a></div></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />A slick, bumpy and bloody ride that sneaks up on you with
its brutal surprises and ornate camerawork, <i>Punto Rojo </i>continues in the
direction set forth by <i>When Evil Lurks </i>in terms of pushing violence and
gore in a standard genre thriller harder and farther than anyone previously
thought possible. While a neo-noir, the
level of gruesomeness in this thing is such that it takes on the patina of a
rough road movie ala <i>Wild at Heart </i>or more recently <i>U-Turn</i>. Not everyone will take to its level of stark
brutality or its plentiful nihilism, but fans of this burgeoning new world
cinema movement will find more than enough fresh meat to sink their salivating
fangs into. The MVD release also
includes an early short film from the director entitled <i>Pinball </i>which for
some forecasts the thick, ropey streams of chum being thrown at the camera.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-38357494366784382042024-02-25T14:31:00.001-05:002024-02-25T14:31:25.574-05:00Re-Enter The Dead Zone: Lionsgate Developing Remake of Stephen King Classic <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVp6Bh4I0Ho2B6ykB0pQ_K-gKWGRcH70Cpy6kYpruWobTEjRjG5Wc9B0KDMiHVqpJy8-vAYkLuUikilXbjsO6hCHTX5uxvSEHDPUiRk9Ko3O7eQWPzrrp1uXFlJR57dDvevIH9RXHGzfpfFLDytIM8rIj9l9X9RxsETUBAZ1pJdbJSgNECNXF8mjaOvDL9/s1920/deadzone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVp6Bh4I0Ho2B6ykB0pQ_K-gKWGRcH70Cpy6kYpruWobTEjRjG5Wc9B0KDMiHVqpJy8-vAYkLuUikilXbjsO6hCHTX5uxvSEHDPUiRk9Ko3O7eQWPzrrp1uXFlJR57dDvevIH9RXHGzfpfFLDytIM8rIj9l9X9RxsETUBAZ1pJdbJSgNECNXF8mjaOvDL9/w400-h225/deadzone.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">Image courtesy Paramount Pictures</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">In a world where nothing is sacred and the classics don't get the respect they deserve, it looks like Lionsgate Pictures is in the early stages of developing a new take on Stephen King's <i>The Dead Zone</i>. The original film which premiered in 1983 starred Christopher Walken as a man that develops psychic powers after awaking from a coma. His journey sees him attempting to save the world from a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the U.S. president. The film still holds up to this day and was eventually turned into a long running television show that starred Anthony Michael Hall. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Now, Lionsgate looks to reboot the story once again and will modernize it. No details about the project have been confirmed at this point. But, news also broke that they're wanting to do a modern retelling of <i>American Psycho</i> as well. Numerous outlets including <a href="https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3801174/lionsgate-reportedly-planning-new-versions-of-american-psycho-and-the-dead-zone/">Bloody Disgusting</a> broke news about the two projects late yesterday. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>The Dead Zone</i> is based on King's best selling 1979 novel. It was one of the first book to movie translations for one of his original works. At the time it made roughly $20 million in box office sales. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">-CG</span></div><br /><p></p>Chris Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13972854242624389907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-14266229392033540062024-02-23T19:11:00.000-05:002024-02-23T19:11:08.119-05:00Arrow Video: The Shaolin Plot (1977) – An Underseen Masterwork of Hong Kong Action Gets the Love it Deserves<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifEEQCs5Tm9AaukLlh7KaXdcI38eJ3qtQb6GR7oq9JCeIjnrHcO8wYih1Mc_BgKi0SKPh-wKhXQdVUk5N1tQiGmEPX4nMoasBf3vCw9U2G2EWYDN0aMOZNuEABPvmSvcznRlHZllWxnuV4tbAHBnGgUG6IHxZ5oYoPLRmURjHih0PH6z4Pf0ZTm2s-hc1a/s2108/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-23%20at%206.25.19%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="2108" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifEEQCs5Tm9AaukLlh7KaXdcI38eJ3qtQb6GR7oq9JCeIjnrHcO8wYih1Mc_BgKi0SKPh-wKhXQdVUk5N1tQiGmEPX4nMoasBf3vCw9U2G2EWYDN0aMOZNuEABPvmSvcznRlHZllWxnuV4tbAHBnGgUG6IHxZ5oYoPLRmURjHih0PH6z4Pf0ZTm2s-hc1a/w400-h290/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-23%20at%206.25.19%20PM.png" title="The Shaolin Plot - Arrow Video Limited Edition" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">All Images Courtesy: Arrow Video/Fortune Star</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="Ar Au Ao" id=":101"><div aria-controls=":12b" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Message Body" aria-multiline="true" aria-owns=":12b" class="Am aiL Al editable LW-avf tS-tW tS-tY" g_editable="true" hidefocus="true" id=":zx" role="textbox" spellcheck="false" style="direction: ltr; min-height: 375px;" tabindex="1"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">For the past couple years Arrow Video has gradually been giving
the swanky limited edition treatment to the filmography of master Hong Kong
filmmaker and actor Sammo Hung. Their latest release, while not primarily directed
by Hung, is a crucial stepping-stone in his career: 1977’s <i>The Shaolin Plot</i>
was his last film as action director/stunt choreographer for another filmmaker
(in this case, director Huang Feng) before fully taking over the director’s
chair himself. While the film in general has a very different feel from most of
Hung’s late-1970s and 1980s features (his films tend to lean hard into action/comedy,
while <i>The Shaolin Plot</i> is much more of a serious martial arts epic), the
numerous action sequences are classic Sammo, with highly kinetic and impactful
fight choreography and cinematography. Hung and Feng make a powerhouse combo:
this is an excellent film, which can hold its own alongside plenty of other
better-known 1970s Hong Kong classics. In his commentary on this disc, Hong
Kong film expert Frank Djeng introduces <i>The Shaolin Plot</i> as one of the
best martial arts epics that you probably haven’t heard of, and there couldn’t be
a more apt description: despite being a very underseen and underdiscussed film,
this is an absolute gem that fans of martial arts movies and Hong Kong action
in general are going to love. Arrow has done some excellent work by unearthing
this diamond in the rough for a new era of fans.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TAynF93Tp8gyF1gu8hdPC1eQb29ibtCtyYwGB3FNxCQQmnW9Y6XRj2XPxSlLXcwoLxjf6Ntv5uhCY6kjDr2LPbwKqxBBw4KJeVT_SLpipjdvhhiBybxTSDWUmwK_wR9iHoGItDW0PYtPB1GUwYu_7Lt8AmzlO2A1Mi7R1dd0TL9rPuI54_EVAPRolAi6/s1920/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4TAynF93Tp8gyF1gu8hdPC1eQb29ibtCtyYwGB3FNxCQQmnW9Y6XRj2XPxSlLXcwoLxjf6Ntv5uhCY6kjDr2LPbwKqxBBw4KJeVT_SLpipjdvhhiBybxTSDWUmwK_wR9iHoGItDW0PYtPB1GUwYu_7Lt8AmzlO2A1Mi7R1dd0TL9rPuI54_EVAPRolAi6/w400-h225/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%202.jpg" title="The Shaolin Plot - Arrow Video Limited Edition" width="400" /></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><u><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">THE FILM:</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The cruel and sadistic Prince Daglen (Chan Sing, <i>New Fist
of Fury</i>) is consumed by an obsession: he wants to obtain, by any means
necessary, the rare and precious manuals detailing every martial art, so that
he can become a master of them all, and be able to defeat any opponent. The
heads of each martial arts school are naturally very reluctant to give up these
rare tomes at the center of their arts, but through bribery, intimidation, or murder
Daglen is able to get his hands on all but one – the heavily-guarded manual of
Shaolin. With the help of his equally cruel henchman Golden Cymbals (Sammo Hung
himself, fighting with his own spin on the Fatal Flying Guillotine), Daglen hatches
a plan to infiltrate the Shaolin monastery and steal the text. The only one who
can stop him is the son (James Tien, <i>The Big Boss</i>) of the Wu-Tang master
who Daglen murdered to get his hands on the manual of Wu-Tang, now eager to get
his revenge and bring his father’s killer to justice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Daglen’s plot to obtain all the martial arts manuals is the
backdrop for an epic tale of intrigue between political factions and martial
arts schools, of an elaborate plot by the villain to infiltrate the
heavily-guarded Shaolin fortress, and of righteous revenge by our orphaned
hero. The plot is much more involved than I expected from the collect-the-macguffins
premise, in a way that I really loved: the web of intrigue is very compelling, and
the script, based on a novel by prolific author and screenwriter Ni Kuang (<i>The
36<sup>th</sup> Chamber of Shaolin, The Seventh Curse</i>) is very good. The
film balances plot and action extremely well, with its intrigue-filled plot
keeping the viewer at attention while also never getting too bogged down in
dialogue and exposition. There is a lot of action all throughout, and the
action sequences are paced very well within the narrative. An hour and 45
minutes may seem like a relatively long runtime for a 1970s Martial Arts
film, but it breezes by, thanks to the film’s pacing and rhythm of action
scenes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0x9vWbsZt8V5JquvV8BGDPMiN1rq46D1B1KSViRc4J5Ol1xCdK_JuBYPEtFRjM560KCnqcZvp0XUqFK018iTQzib9l8XsvrLDXdDaHq_Rxw2QtWXYJ_lTRX5_nK2yBflatS9A8XPfWgSUZ66xDyQNQggi7rf9jbH6wHRKh-jZFVShYcyJe6O5f2dE0wOm/s1920/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0x9vWbsZt8V5JquvV8BGDPMiN1rq46D1B1KSViRc4J5Ol1xCdK_JuBYPEtFRjM560KCnqcZvp0XUqFK018iTQzib9l8XsvrLDXdDaHq_Rxw2QtWXYJ_lTRX5_nK2yBflatS9A8XPfWgSUZ66xDyQNQggi7rf9jbH6wHRKh-jZFVShYcyJe6O5f2dE0wOm/w400-h225/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%204.jpg" title="The Shaolin Plot - Arrow Video Limited Edition" width="400" /></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">While the unexpectedly intrigue-filled plot kept me engaged
on its own, the action sequences are where <i>The Shaolin Plot</i> really packs
a punch, and absolutely defines itself as a should-be classic. Sammo Hung
brings absolutely fantastic fight choreography to the film, choreographing both
the actors and the camera movements in stunning ways. Given the premise of the
film, with multiple martial arts schools factoring into the plot, there is quite
a variety of martial arts action styles throughout the film. There is also a
very cool mix of fast and intense hand-to-hand combat and touches of
Wuxia-esque wirework elements here and there (including the highly stylized and
fanciful spin on the Fatal Flying Guillotine that Hung’s villain uses). It is a
very fun and eclectic mix of elements. There are great fights scattered all
throughout, and a few major showstoppers – martial arts action fans should love
what Hung has on offer here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It is honestly mystifying to me that this film is so
underseen and obscure, and not held in higher regard as a classic example of
late-1970s Hong Kong martial arts action. It is very good – honestly much
better than the last two Sammo Hung screeners I’ve reviewed for Arrow, <i><a href="https://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2023/03/blog-post.html" target="_blank">Millionaire’sExpress</a></i> (which I honestly thought was pretty bad) and <i><a href="https://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2023/09/blog-post.html" target="_blank">The Prodigal Son</a> </i>(very good in its best moments, but uneven). Whether you’re here for a good story
of period intrigue or just impressive martial arts action, this film delivers
the goods. I really hope that Arrow’s disc helps the film to get rediscovered,
and to finally achieve the classic status that it has clearly always deserved.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFMU0RYvnjSFegX3YRA0TxzjBrPqhHJIBJOHgV3arEqop-EVsMoRQIo4l8NANmukVOWRTvlr2FpvWh697JJndJRXvknHEGpFViX6sUe6T_SjSNV6mKjPKiROhSv6CdpwoSKGQyCUMpZ5Y8WpRUE9K23fwVJWkSxDqQI864fWRMSwg8wPtZ_wV9Dj5wP_O/s1920/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXFMU0RYvnjSFegX3YRA0TxzjBrPqhHJIBJOHgV3arEqop-EVsMoRQIo4l8NANmukVOWRTvlr2FpvWh697JJndJRXvknHEGpFViX6sUe6T_SjSNV6mKjPKiROhSv6CdpwoSKGQyCUMpZ5Y8WpRUE9K23fwVJWkSxDqQI864fWRMSwg8wPtZ_wV9Dj5wP_O/w400-h225/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%205.jpg" title="The Shaolin Plot - Arrow Video Limited Edition" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><u><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">THE ARROW LIMITED EDITION:</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As with all of their recent releases of Sammo Hung’s films, <i>The
Shaolin Plot</i> comes in a limited edition package with a slipcase, poster,
and book of essays. The physical extras look great. The disc, however, is fairly
limited in a way that is pretty unfortunate, although I suppose that mainly
just speaks to what an obscure movie this is. By Arrow’s standards it is very
barebones: the only extras are two commentaries, both by pairs of Hong Kong
action film experts (Frank Djeng & Michael Worth, and Mike Leeder &
Arne Venema). With that said, however, both commentaries are very good, and
absolutely packed with really interesting, detailed, and well-researched
information about the film and the people who worked on it. Of the two, I think
the Djeng and Worth commentary is definitely the better one – I found it more
interesting and full of more valuable information, and I really liked their
conversation style – but both are strong and worth a listen if you enjoy the
film. Still, I really wish that they could have gotten some alums from the film
– maybe even Sammo Hung himself – to sit down for new interviews, and the
absence of any interviews at all is quite noticeable.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDKBxSFO5SZJXs9QzKZ9FtR8B1Rnd2MdlWshSCbZDhhpUwSxVEZN4UUS_CaeXy6ggUP4c8OR2YVasD6mQGT0uruuiOkRdogCLQ72dyWQflZKZxiM_hAP-QhLdkMK0KgqCc43hpsfPy9MqYtKrlLJrmpTBQ3VJ0NJrZL3kJtp2pNlBfsRfV84UwzkC5iz3/s1920/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDKBxSFO5SZJXs9QzKZ9FtR8B1Rnd2MdlWshSCbZDhhpUwSxVEZN4UUS_CaeXy6ggUP4c8OR2YVasD6mQGT0uruuiOkRdogCLQ72dyWQflZKZxiM_hAP-QhLdkMK0KgqCc43hpsfPy9MqYtKrlLJrmpTBQ3VJ0NJrZL3kJtp2pNlBfsRfV84UwzkC5iz3/w400-h225/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%201.jpg" title="The Shaolin Plot - Arrow Video Limited Edition" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The film itself is presented in a new 2k restoration provided
to Arrow by the film’s Hong Kong distributor, Fortune Star. It looks quite
good, but it also has some noticeable flaws that probably wouldn’t be there if
Arrow had gotten to do the restoration work themselves. Occasionally you can
see the remains of some print damage, and there are also a couple odd jump-cuts
where it appears a few frames are missing. The color grading also looks a tad
erratic, with some shots being noticeably cooler or warmer than the shots on
either side of them, as though they haven't been fully matched. However, none of this is too distracting, and for the most
part the image looks very good. Detail is sharp, there is a healthy presence of
film grain that makes the transfer look nice and filmic, and aside from those occasional
weird shifts from shot to shot, colors mostly look very good and quite rich.
Overall it is a good – in its best moments very good – transfer, but definitely
not a great one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Still, it seems a bit ludicrous to be too hard on a transfer
when it is obviously a massive, massive upgrade over whatever low-quality
version anyone who actually has seen the film before might have watched. This
is a very obscure, lesser-seen film, and a beautifully shot 2.35:1 film at that, and to see it look this good is pretty
mind-blowing. Fans should be quite happy, despite a few small flaws.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWf5VC4zxAxNM5zSj5zLIBk9W7G5HRVUwB_Ec_TptkpKpirIR-zGqyVvnWHy56ZFbRWTwOCEbtlR5ocbnV1nf4vjjBKCJbjtCDmtOT964DodxBIJJlU3o-ohTSZlR-0hc18XjYS7PrJ6-x-b7aKwylQuMO661_U4vq7DpnaYqjkZxLn_zoWlgLK_GggG6z/s1920/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWf5VC4zxAxNM5zSj5zLIBk9W7G5HRVUwB_Ec_TptkpKpirIR-zGqyVvnWHy56ZFbRWTwOCEbtlR5ocbnV1nf4vjjBKCJbjtCDmtOT964DodxBIJJlU3o-ohTSZlR-0hc18XjYS7PrJ6-x-b7aKwylQuMO661_U4vq7DpnaYqjkZxLn_zoWlgLK_GggG6z/w400-h225/The%20Shaolin%20Plot%20Still%207.jpg" title="The Shaolin Plot - Arrow Video Limited Edition" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><b><u><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">IN CONCLUSION:</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">While I may have been a bit underwhelmed by the transfer and
limited roster of extras, I am nonetheless absolutely thrilled that Arrow has
rescued this film from obscurity and given it their limited edition treatment.
It is a very very good vintage Hong Kong martial arts film, and one that should
have always been held up as a classic. I really hope that now people finally
discover it, and it becomes the classic that it always should have been. I
truly had a blast with it, and I suspect that other fans of this type of film
will as well. And while there is definitely room for improvement, Arrow’s disc
is nonetheless quite good, and a huge upgrade over the previous sad state of
the film’s distribution. If you have any interest in this type of film, I would
highly recommend picking it up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">- Christopher S. Jordan</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Please share this review!</span></p></div></div>Christopher S. Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16848556507809426620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-57713028210758545822024-02-23T16:14:00.002-05:002024-02-23T16:14:29.521-05:00Vinegar Syndrome: Fatal Games (1984) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSM_WadkiICS08hMHGYF5DYC1XyygxAM4Y89RA9oT70BgHDlSeiCMBNEwSo8qv_hp5u_ZmZIc0EdbaUSaxiPGa_8FRT5WV4ZOmJfKiJvrdkjZMCM4aFETBjLZzSeAyc2MsfhVgcowE357wRNecLDCoLDsw3xhcnmU4a6cBgx0izMl0jOJvCOb2LIq7Is/s1280/Fatal%20Games%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSM_WadkiICS08hMHGYF5DYC1XyygxAM4Y89RA9oT70BgHDlSeiCMBNEwSo8qv_hp5u_ZmZIc0EdbaUSaxiPGa_8FRT5WV4ZOmJfKiJvrdkjZMCM4aFETBjLZzSeAyc2MsfhVgcowE357wRNecLDCoLDsw3xhcnmU4a6cBgx0izMl0jOJvCOb2LIq7Is/w400-h225/Fatal%20Games%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="fatal games 1984" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Not long after the splash of the 80s slasher horror film
craze ignited by <i>Halloween </i>and <i>Friday the 13<sup>th</sup> </i>with
regional independent filmmakers having a go at the increasingly popular genre
film coming out of the woodwork, a crossover of the high-school sports team on
its way to the Olympics with the slasher flick came about in the form of Herb
Green’s <i>Graduation Day</i> mixing the two disparate ingredients
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few years later in Juan
López Moctezuma (<i>Alucarda</i>) screenwriter Michael Elliot’s one and only
feature film as a writer-director <i>Fatal Games</i> it only<i> </i>doubled
down on the mixture of sports and slayings even further with a slasher horror
that’s equal parts <i>Graduation Day </i>with just a hint of <i>Sleepaway Camp </i>lurking
in its high-school locker rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijVoH9BvLJIFycz7P-asrBzMVnqn8PXL8XF5F_mmMMxRRff6C7-2GaS0-FLohG39dtEmnvpUg1QIa41fw7NoKdTp4FxIvhId3aRC_PbqJdnT4P1PkNCw8eK1Sy4Z4bTifsbn6wdo4KonBV8Tv-drjyABftp97qbnQaEngFTfHEqgjxxAlFO0sFrhNv_P4/s2400/Fatal%20Games%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="2400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijVoH9BvLJIFycz7P-asrBzMVnqn8PXL8XF5F_mmMMxRRff6C7-2GaS0-FLohG39dtEmnvpUg1QIa41fw7NoKdTp4FxIvhId3aRC_PbqJdnT4P1PkNCw8eK1Sy4Z4bTifsbn6wdo4KonBV8Tv-drjyABftp97qbnQaEngFTfHEqgjxxAlFO0sFrhNv_P4/w400-h225/Fatal%20Games%20-%201.jpg" title="fatal games 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Falcon Athletic Academy, Massachusetts and its seven-member
team of young sportsmen and sportswomen working everything from gymnastics to
track, field or swimming are up for a Nationals competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, one by one each member of the group
starts dropping like flies, leaving the doctors pumping their athletes with
steroids perplexed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, slithering
like a snake in their midst is a masked tracksuit-adorned serial killer armed
with a javelin and a bloody axe to grind with the competitors who appear to be
on the murderer’s hitlist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everywhere
from the track field out in the open to the locker room to the swimming pool or
fitness rooms become proving grounds for the killer to deliver some astounding
if not absurd slayings that have to be seen to be believed and a grand finale you
couldn’t get away with today.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiawZCpxqg7Ulp9n-pg-3MRd4sR0W9LB39ce52WuVEWJWBQ6HSFAC49FGNTMn0JtZdi_jOPgskDmsbpkl1R597aweYw9R0KddkqDULr7m5LOWaOe2JfWle13tuLm1yTJJZ6lrUf2qBt0DZ-R8m_XS6gS3tMIPnxubApp72PDZ_EM0NXn-5uVCgCiTKRZE/s2400/Fatal%20Games%20-%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="2400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiawZCpxqg7Ulp9n-pg-3MRd4sR0W9LB39ce52WuVEWJWBQ6HSFAC49FGNTMn0JtZdi_jOPgskDmsbpkl1R597aweYw9R0KddkqDULr7m5LOWaOe2JfWle13tuLm1yTJJZ6lrUf2qBt0DZ-R8m_XS6gS3tMIPnxubApp72PDZ_EM0NXn-5uVCgCiTKRZE/w400-h225/Fatal%20Games%20-%202.jpg" title="fatal games 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>A distinct product of its time that languished in VHS Hell
for decades before recently unearthed dupe 35mm film elements were found by
Vinegar Syndrome’s archival team, <i>Fatal Games </i>(shot as <i>The Killing
Touch</i>)<i> </i>while rife with the stock trade elements of the slasher film
including but not limited to over-the-top kills and plentifully gratuitous nudity
as well as some now politically incorrect plot developments is a delightful
little beer-and-pizza flick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sporting
Academy Award nominee Sally Kirkland as the film’s chief sports coach, <i>Halloween
Ends </i>actor Michael O’Leary, <i>Twin Peaks </i>and <i>Wild at Heart </i>actor
Nicholas Love and <i>Wag the Dog </i>actor Sean Masterson, the ensemble
sports/sex high-school comedy turned slasher thriller for being a regional cheapie
isn’t poorly shot or acted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Incidentally
also during a nude scene actress Lynne Banashek didn’t want to do, scream queen
Linnea Quiqley of <i>The Return of the Living Dead </i>fame doubled for her.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOQIrfaaJ-saSpJm1dL-CgQl3bH8a-1xZhLH_iV952mWA7100s4kyMIf7RDnt5uLYb0NH2lDsMPDbzzMVaWOSCd8JSHKgcVo2hi10l0RuxkOSuiLqP5J2oDv3DWwPlaA4v3OTl2QV7KGoe4Z1NKjfwTU2thQRZ6gvfFwAnmBixxQUJCZN1Ljzfcjk9Rk/s2400/Fatal%20Games%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="2400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrOQIrfaaJ-saSpJm1dL-CgQl3bH8a-1xZhLH_iV952mWA7100s4kyMIf7RDnt5uLYb0NH2lDsMPDbzzMVaWOSCd8JSHKgcVo2hi10l0RuxkOSuiLqP5J2oDv3DWwPlaA4v3OTl2QV7KGoe4Z1NKjfwTU2thQRZ6gvfFwAnmBixxQUJCZN1Ljzfcjk9Rk/w400-h225/Fatal%20Games%20-%203.jpg" title="fatal games 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Co-written by Rafael Bunuel (yes son of the Luis Bunuel), Elliot
and character actor Christopher Mankiewicz (yes Mank related), <i>Fatal Games </i>has
some surprising amount of writing talent attached considering their relations
to some of the greatest film people who ever worked in the profession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shot handsomely by <i>Killer Klowns from
Outer Space </i>cinematographer Alfred Taylor, <i>Fatal Games </i>despite the
roughness of the only surviving elements located by Vinegar Syndrome looks nice
though a good number of darker scenes in closed locker rooms and swimming pools
render some of the kills difficult to decipher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The electronic soundtrack by future <i>The Real Ghostbusters </i>and <i>Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers </i>composer Shuki Levy is off the charts and in its own
right evokes a certain amount of dread and unease.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could play the music during a memorable
girl’s locker room shower stalking sequence and feel your hair standing on
end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s that creepy!</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfgWJdP6ho00UTvzHimKFq4O7LPat4jSq-VPWvZmmm6IkbZGvNIakBz_7ohM34jwyqEEQ1xgU2ckAYTsu8tG6ZYeQJ5-3LE_F1HGKVIz8E-uaTgadWBvOSZGdV_W64MejRpDoz34dF12GSd38u3hTgE_Dy5YpOQbjJSo8weTkWpiJptcaBJpuDkdkRls/s2400/Fatal%20Games%20-%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="2400" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPfgWJdP6ho00UTvzHimKFq4O7LPat4jSq-VPWvZmmm6IkbZGvNIakBz_7ohM34jwyqEEQ1xgU2ckAYTsu8tG6ZYeQJ5-3LE_F1HGKVIz8E-uaTgadWBvOSZGdV_W64MejRpDoz34dF12GSd38u3hTgE_Dy5YpOQbjJSo8weTkWpiJptcaBJpuDkdkRls/w400-h225/Fatal%20Games%20-%204.jpg" title="fatal games 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>While receiving largely negative reviews and invariable
comparisons to <i>Graduation Day </i>preceding it, <i>Fatal Games </i>went in
and out of theaters while critics dunked on the perceived campiness of the film
including one who referred to Shuki Levy’s soundtrack as ‘farting synth’. Despite this, the film gradually attained the
VHS driven cult status of a beloved little slasher flick. No, not all of its outlandish developments
will go over well today upon further revision but for fans of Vinegar Syndrome’s
dedication to archiving bonkers videotape horror favorites in beautifully
restored special editions as well as longtime fans waiting with baited breath
for this disc release will find more than enough to enjoy here. Unlike the more popular <i>Graduation Day </i>which
definitely paved the way for this, <i>Fatal Games </i>in spite of the
absurdities and outlandishness is somehow scarier.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-61099288056864931972024-02-22T13:42:00.001-05:002024-02-22T13:42:19.536-05:00Fun City Editions: Alphabet City (1984) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEza-_PMV5Wp_yoYTJRuiuBldsl1HhamCHljpLHH65iN8v2TN9aC_mhmXujpKoOBGF2HgAvK0Qn2UgGEWgl26Xn-mFmtxiQVMp0ahyphenhyphenSeoqoiJtswATyz9y2u1ro7v-I3v2roZV-nRd9XA4NcpkWvVZigR_6WCTXxjFXFYggbDrVersYCuoz7DGcWUpgrg/s512/Alphabet%20City%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="512" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEza-_PMV5Wp_yoYTJRuiuBldsl1HhamCHljpLHH65iN8v2TN9aC_mhmXujpKoOBGF2HgAvK0Qn2UgGEWgl26Xn-mFmtxiQVMp0ahyphenhyphenSeoqoiJtswATyz9y2u1ro7v-I3v2roZV-nRd9XA4NcpkWvVZigR_6WCTXxjFXFYggbDrVersYCuoz7DGcWUpgrg/w400-h215/Alphabet%20City%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="alphabet city 1984" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Fun City Editions</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Israeli born New York based writer-director Amos Poe is
regarded alongside Penelope Spheeris and Alex Cox as being among the first true
punk filmmakers with his 1976 punk rocker epic <i>The Blank Generation</i>
before pioneering what became known as the No Wave Cinema movement focused on shooting
films in the lower East Side of New York City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Going on to make No Wave classics such as <i>The Foreigner </i>from 1978
with Debbie Harry and <i>Subway Riders </i>with Robbie Coltrane in 1981, the
quasi documentary-punk filmmaker would invariably make his way towards fictional
features in 1984 with his neon-drenched New York based crime thriller <i>Alphabet
City </i>picked up and restored in 2K by Vinegar Syndrome sublabel Fun City
Editions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNYg7mnA_-j9mzi-Q1ypDDJaaA_kX9_9H9yEWNy9DcC8WKdEAF_yYOsJyNJbNJiydy98P6K3gkDfbj-A_d-W8fsBF5JX6dA6ubZKxD10VwTF-K5f_qzedaTPuYweGYxIibqhNcxOXd_8oPG49TdXYBFhEV-kuZoLiJHuvm0QZ7TRSfjEwXpH2gxOMsyM/s1280/Alphabet%20City%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNYg7mnA_-j9mzi-Q1ypDDJaaA_kX9_9H9yEWNy9DcC8WKdEAF_yYOsJyNJbNJiydy98P6K3gkDfbj-A_d-W8fsBF5JX6dA6ubZKxD10VwTF-K5f_qzedaTPuYweGYxIibqhNcxOXd_8oPG49TdXYBFhEV-kuZoLiJHuvm0QZ7TRSfjEwXpH2gxOMsyM/w400-h225/Alphabet%20City%20-%201.jpg" title="alphabet city 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>A film that seems to forecast such neon-noir fare as <i>Drive
</i>through the docudrama lens flared nightscape somewhere between <i>Liquid
Sky </i>and <i>Deadbeat at Dawn</i>, <i>Alphabet City </i>stars then-unknown <i>Over
the Edge </i>actor Vincent Spano as Johnny, a thug enforcing New York based titular
rough hooded <i>Alphabet City</i>’s drug trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, a new task assigned to the leather jacketed gang member
involving torching his family’s childhood apartment building puts him at an
impasse between himself and his ruthless bosses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a race against time beset by gorgeously lensed
neon-lit visuals by Oliver Wood of <i>Miami Vice </i>and <i>Face/Off </i>and
aided by Chic founder/dance music guru Nile Rodgers’ synthetic keyboard score, our
hero must do everything to protect his loved ones from falling under the deadly
bullets of his employers.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQfYZdSH9m-0xMICb-m_Y5xVGccLntCTIDYQO_zCIkpo5z1nIhbSoGbommXrMM0jVONTW-VB03RUbQrm8Gn9Ndun_98ANdAIFcRlfSeFUJH0H-z7vGsKe3nKYdz2Xp5FIRU5I4xAyZE6_bUb93-lFx70FSqXYhyphenhyphenaKp-aCpCjPWOfcm6jdHs1OzWUeByA/s1842/Alphabet%20City%20-%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="1842" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQfYZdSH9m-0xMICb-m_Y5xVGccLntCTIDYQO_zCIkpo5z1nIhbSoGbommXrMM0jVONTW-VB03RUbQrm8Gn9Ndun_98ANdAIFcRlfSeFUJH0H-z7vGsKe3nKYdz2Xp5FIRU5I4xAyZE6_bUb93-lFx70FSqXYhyphenhyphenaKp-aCpCjPWOfcm6jdHs1OzWUeByA/w400-h225/Alphabet%20City%20-%202.jpg" title="alphabet city 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Something of a time capsule capturing the air and flavor of
the seedier portions of New York ala <i>Mondo New York </i>or Martin Scorsese’s
gritty <i>Mean Streets </i>with the eyes and ears of Dario Argento or Nicolas
Winding Refn, <i>Alphabet City </i>reportedly shot over twenty nights in poor
neighborhoods is a slick piece of pure 80s neon drenched dripping style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From Johnny’s 1983 black and white Pontiac
Firebird driven throughout the film against lip glossed cursive credits onscreen
as Rodgers’ electric sonics sizzle on the soundtrack, the film is a literal
realization on film of Kavinsky’s <i>Outrun </i>album replete with <i>Drive </i>opening
track <i>Nightcall </i>blasting through a car’s loudspeakers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While a couple of spots involving the
protagonist’s family interactions featuring a then-unknown Jami Gertz echo the
family squabbles of <i>Saturday Night Fever </i>by way of <i>Scarface</i>, <i>Alphabet
City </i>nevertheless comes across as a distinct (possibly tail end) example of
the No Wave Cinema.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiumUvt37FuM4WXyw3KhLez4YYNFz5RWVf-a-ioc5DOcotmAWDX4Y4BaTG5sx__swPKcjWRQUEQWBsfn_jIU9V-LL94Pfvd5OnpMuyBulzu1qZ95l7qeJj6hohbBqQyjjQi0KyziqJsyojWl9vfTz11JHAf51Cv1h00ulR0Xui2bA_N80vG_fzu0joTSBA/s2048/Alphabet%20City%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiumUvt37FuM4WXyw3KhLez4YYNFz5RWVf-a-ioc5DOcotmAWDX4Y4BaTG5sx__swPKcjWRQUEQWBsfn_jIU9V-LL94Pfvd5OnpMuyBulzu1qZ95l7qeJj6hohbBqQyjjQi0KyziqJsyojWl9vfTz11JHAf51Cv1h00ulR0Xui2bA_N80vG_fzu0joTSBA/w400-h225/Alphabet%20City%20-%203.jpg" title="alphabet city 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Performance wise, the ensemble cast is mostly fine with Vincent
Spano giving a kind of Jason Patric performance in his thug with a heart of
gold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael Winslow from the <i>Police
Academy </i>movies shows up in it as Johnny’s adrift partner in crime while girlfriend
Angie (Kate Vernon) turns over a mostly fine performance as a bystander trapped
in the middle of an unfolding turf war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fans
who are really looking will spot <i>Let’s Scare Jessica to Death </i>actress
Zohra Lampert as Johnny’s mother more or less riffing on Tony Montana’s mom
from <i>Scarface</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All things said,
the film’s truest main character, however, is the titular <i>Alphabet City </i>itself
bathed in purple, green and red nighttime lights that illuminate buildings and
sometimes people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One hundred percent a
nightlife film, the city glimpsed in a form it has long since jettisoned while
threatening and dangerous is also oddly picturesque in its dismal glory.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXztHqu1l2kKDogYuIh4NgGgf0i7qYVztUs0xFTzAVJXUC35c_gPD6c9ipXHg6vrT5-AuW_Z2xmK4KTzvv4SYccRFNmgfbXC1GtwAeSEAtvXAWg_21yL-w2I17B3zw3SGtX-d8wtPTvhYoMK3G_XSu4c-PdFYUQqjEPCyG22xg2ZPGkQSDsFM-JNUPSNs/s2048/Alphabet%20City%20-%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXztHqu1l2kKDogYuIh4NgGgf0i7qYVztUs0xFTzAVJXUC35c_gPD6c9ipXHg6vrT5-AuW_Z2xmK4KTzvv4SYccRFNmgfbXC1GtwAeSEAtvXAWg_21yL-w2I17B3zw3SGtX-d8wtPTvhYoMK3G_XSu4c-PdFYUQqjEPCyG22xg2ZPGkQSDsFM-JNUPSNs/w400-h225/Alphabet%20City%20-%204.jpg" title="alphabet city 1984" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>A modestly successful underground hit that flew under the
radar of many cinephiles only to be rediscovered and reappraised years later
thanks to the efforts of Fun City Editions, <i>Alphabet City </i>stands and
radiates glowingly today as a time capsule of a bygone but still faintly
familiar era. A movie that all but
forecasted the eventual marriage of Walter Hill oriented modestly sized
actioners with the phantasmagoria of say a Mario Bava film, <i>Alphabet City </i>is
an underrated night time pressure cooking thriller with a breakneck energy
reminiscent of <i>The Warriors </i>with a distinctly urban New York based
patina that’s almost like an expensive dessert at a hole in the wall family
restaurant, cheap, rough and tough but also highly flavorful. A film with a tangible, almost physical vibe,
it represents a snapshot of New York rarely seen on film before or since.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-26508939704786319242024-02-21T19:19:00.002-05:002024-02-21T19:27:07.970-05:00Jesus Walks Into A Hotel: The Crow Limited Edition 4K Steelbook Lands At Amazon<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqs0QI6rg2vQSWzGYZOdZroGqmMl_oQksIRegP1X2OX7uJ1P9wesuqxOANoYcpjM7WkV6GXEnwUOe7Ji1jZsuaGxhvo_DdTzrCfy9gJwylmBglVF1wVznpq35m7cdhTjTHTnbE31O3uusqkseMoLTl4PKIGNxjHewyw0gPRdt23p_cHZ4yXWZ6WJQc4s_J/s620/crow.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="620" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqs0QI6rg2vQSWzGYZOdZroGqmMl_oQksIRegP1X2OX7uJ1P9wesuqxOANoYcpjM7WkV6GXEnwUOe7Ji1jZsuaGxhvo_DdTzrCfy9gJwylmBglVF1wVznpq35m7cdhTjTHTnbE31O3uusqkseMoLTl4PKIGNxjHewyw0gPRdt23p_cHZ4yXWZ6WJQc4s_J/w400-h238/crow.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Image courtesy Miramax Pictures<br /></span><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It was recently announced that <i>The Crow</i> would be getting a 30th anniversary 4K release this coming May 7th. It's been a long time coming for the classic gothic tale about a man coming back to life to take vengeance on his wife's murderers. With an upcoming reboot that will see Bill Skarsgard take up the role of Eric Draven, it's timely that we are finally getting a 4K restoration and release for the home video market. </span><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>The Crow</i> reboot had been in development hell for over a decade with numerous actors and directors attached to the project. At one point Jason Momoa was attached to star but the movie slipped through the cracks and went back into the developmental stages. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Today it was announced that Amazon will be getting their very own steelbook release for the upcoming anniversary of the movie. Typically, this would have been a Best Buy release. But since they've quit selling physical media, most upcoming limited edition steelbooks will find their way to Wal-Mart and Amazon. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbR8Mfzmp1mFiMOX79u_wxhPQMtEdY9c2m5hnxHdBitEtXft5eaZqvxqwackKz2KZmiPW0dQReoqIvKZV1lelDUdfPOKEir1gVCf-bMXERUOK3n8zZ86M41J70sFileAURCLJqwu76myzWfcCnkPLNWGCsXK46ZWKpm5BMXegS_Dqvd0Si8JPTuFitnd_E/s768/crow1.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="610" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbR8Mfzmp1mFiMOX79u_wxhPQMtEdY9c2m5hnxHdBitEtXft5eaZqvxqwackKz2KZmiPW0dQReoqIvKZV1lelDUdfPOKEir1gVCf-bMXERUOK3n8zZ86M41J70sFileAURCLJqwu76myzWfcCnkPLNWGCsXK46ZWKpm5BMXegS_Dqvd0Si8JPTuFitnd_E/w318-h400/crow1.webp" width="318" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSAxIR1ErChl4Cyhoi7sMrWBNSMfKR4xnr_eSKWOOAb9pn33RyYAm2CMU4Ft67WcZE8Bfmk1FmZlYU5y0Y1ILnfOAPoY53NUEdq-2ju5p9SkMekeQHC4N-5ACmuKacx0z1suuCtRSFaqNTACS23QLVoCDJzv2Bt-EoSwKR5hN4w_rftpQ7smGpWnZjXt9/s768/crow2.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="768" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSAxIR1ErChl4Cyhoi7sMrWBNSMfKR4xnr_eSKWOOAb9pn33RyYAm2CMU4Ft67WcZE8Bfmk1FmZlYU5y0Y1ILnfOAPoY53NUEdq-2ju5p9SkMekeQHC4N-5ACmuKacx0z1suuCtRSFaqNTACS23QLVoCDJzv2Bt-EoSwKR5hN4w_rftpQ7smGpWnZjXt9/w640-h370/crow2.webp" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p></p>Chris Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13972854242624389907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-79629814449588040222024-02-20T22:16:00.003-05:002024-02-21T15:04:41.313-05:00The Beauty and the Horror: Dune: Part Two (2024) - Reviewed<p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCrUXfw6Bx8xYj937QUKrk9uNez1s55FG4K2lTqiU2YpMwUpMBUbqlaY5J4UGnk8nPWc2GyTRBWKiJe9sNC5naLmt3kqyiYdEk74D4LBptbstjwGKBtOq8XyTHSluEUIO0wVS4hTG44oxbiH2pMHmDS2O_z66M3qeV1vwOCFXR1WdNJwhl3KD9Xi12dD8/w400-h225/dune.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Warner Brothers</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCrUXfw6Bx8xYj937QUKrk9uNez1s55FG4K2lTqiU2YpMwUpMBUbqlaY5J4UGnk8nPWc2GyTRBWKiJe9sNC5naLmt3kqyiYdEk74D4LBptbstjwGKBtOq8XyTHSluEUIO0wVS4hTG44oxbiH2pMHmDS2O_z66M3qeV1vwOCFXR1WdNJwhl3KD9Xi12dD8/s3840/dune.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Back in 2021, Denis Villeneuve tried his hand at adapting <i>Dune</i>, the well-loved and famously complex sci-fi novel series by Frank Herbert. Although it was delayed a bit by the pandemic, it garnered favorable reviews from critics and audiences alike and was a box office hit despite its lengthy running time and enigmatic narrative. It was only one part of a more significant tale, and Villeneuve is back again to try to finish the Atreides story arc.</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>Dune: Part Two </i>(2024) picks up directly after the first film's events: Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have joined the Fremen of the spice planet Arrakis. They hope the Fremen will accept them and that they will help them fight against House Harkonnen, who betrayed House Atreides in the first film. Paul forges a deeper relationship with Chani (Zendaya), a fierce and independent Fremen fighter who is incredibly devoted to her people and their freedom.</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4V6EPzCX4peZycoHSenni9qhMQNPqnFLLxhXdkYp0BagRi2xO0h5P-8L8JbsVx94kwA_8iPyzP1_3j4VAsop8ategOsE5tWjrPahCxBqJEIzSZb-zQjY8wdTQDwAgqTJqIpneT4IFy-M3q0LimcParLiHJzflYU7NmYkRf7kLcR5MM7cXcW0prDWgB3g/s3840/dune1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4V6EPzCX4peZycoHSenni9qhMQNPqnFLLxhXdkYp0BagRi2xO0h5P-8L8JbsVx94kwA_8iPyzP1_3j4VAsop8ategOsE5tWjrPahCxBqJEIzSZb-zQjY8wdTQDwAgqTJqIpneT4IFy-M3q0LimcParLiHJzflYU7NmYkRf7kLcR5MM7cXcW0prDWgB3g/w400-h225/dune1.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The film's first act is dedicated to Paul's attempts to integrate himself into Freman culture while representing himself as the heir to the Atreides family legacy. At this point, Paul is optimistic and open to change, and he is excited to welcome the Freman's culture into his own. House Atreides only saw spice as a means to immense wealth, but the Fremen used it to further their consciousness and spirituality and gain superhuman powers. A fish-out-of-water aspect is introduced while Paul learns the way of the desert group and gains their respect, and a budding romance develops between himself and Chani.</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Religion is one of the main concepts that <i>Dune</i> critiques, and it does so through Paul's hero's journey. In a lesser story, Paul would be "the chosen one" and save everyone through his miraculous actions and selfless disposition. Even further, given that the groups in <i>Dune</i> have parallels with real-life cultures, they could have been trapped in the "white savior" cliche. The Freman have a religion based around prophesies and legends, and Paul conveniently fits into every slot. In this way, the narrative is a subversion of the Hero's Journey, in which the protagonist cannot change his destiny or refuse the call and is tragically exploited by powers outside of his control.</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Just as real-life religions share similar origin stories, just told from different perspectives, the Freman religion is filled with ambiguous symbolism that can be applied to many situations. Paul is an easy target to use to manipulate people through misguided faith, and he is also reluctant to be worshipped. <i>Dune</i> asks questions about religious zealotry, messiah complexes, and how it is used to control instead of liberate. Chani is naturally skeptical of the legends and is essentially a humanist who wants her people to overcome the opposition by their will and cooperation alone.</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMhrBeCmA9SO6aBglxT-88IGJXdBwt6VacuPtNB8QmmIp5JtjR2vQEFp_oakdxYZxXrUQTglzUu64GrJHqNRbUwxyqXE-2B8QC8RIUT-9X4Lh6juArje4lBO7scKkGx9UdZp1T1q9M0cefHBrX00U3d6DnLdC8iRJ9s4yk1vynDBwrCfWcssDjXkH5UbM/s1920/dune3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMhrBeCmA9SO6aBglxT-88IGJXdBwt6VacuPtNB8QmmIp5JtjR2vQEFp_oakdxYZxXrUQTglzUu64GrJHqNRbUwxyqXE-2B8QC8RIUT-9X4Lh6juArje4lBO7scKkGx9UdZp1T1q9M0cefHBrX00U3d6DnLdC8iRJ9s4yk1vynDBwrCfWcssDjXkH5UbM/w400-h225/dune3.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Visually, <i>Dune: Part Two</i> surpasses the first film and establishes a strong style early on with bold colors and striking scene composition. The scenes on Arrakis are warm-toned and easy on the eyes, a mixture of gold, brown, and deep reds, which is contrasted sharply with the cold black-and-white starkness of House Harkonnen. Even though the runtime is longer than the first part, it flies by quickly due to the excellent pacing and increased action. Villeneuve uses the "show, don't tell" technique much more in this outing, avoiding exposition dumps while keeping the narrative streamlined and easy to follow. Hans Zimmer's bombastic musical score is intense and sweeping, and the sound design, in general, will elicit goosebumps at the climatic scenes.</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>Dune: Part Two</i> ups the ante in every way compared to the first film, and both movies combined form an incredible story of power and tribulation.</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Michelle Kisner</span></p>Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12891321763081294306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-86899399846130755112024-02-19T19:14:00.001-05:002024-02-19T19:14:32.576-05:00Blade Runner 2099: Sequel Series Set To Film in April <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSswI2yRdqueNjpeSjLbQs9-wqY1vPx8vT2MV-Z7NsM-5RUsrXOqw70epE2Am_ojdhiw5HSXmTRJM_o25IPb3y-XxogqjmO8WoiT11tHrXSQ-cOF3XA0DixoQP-b0OXhDFiHuiL2wsQ3gkD6YqX-qgVzHdgpoirooP4wEcaLVNwXkw0SG0QtR-gjwsyjja/s1280/br.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSswI2yRdqueNjpeSjLbQs9-wqY1vPx8vT2MV-Z7NsM-5RUsrXOqw70epE2Am_ojdhiw5HSXmTRJM_o25IPb3y-XxogqjmO8WoiT11tHrXSQ-cOF3XA0DixoQP-b0OXhDFiHuiL2wsQ3gkD6YqX-qgVzHdgpoirooP4wEcaLVNwXkw0SG0QtR-gjwsyjja/w400-h225/br.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">Image courtesy of Warner Bros. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The long gestating sequel series to <i>Blade Runner</i> is set to begin shooting soon. Shogun director Jonathan Van Tulleken has officially boarded the project and will helm the first two episodes of the series. It is now set to begin production in April 2024. The show titled<i> Blade Runner 2099</i> will be a sequel to<i> Blade Runner 2049</i> and will feature a cast of new characters. Game of Thrones director Jeremy Podeswa was initially set to direct but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Van Tulleken recently worked on the upcoming <i>Shogun </i>series and was also part of <i>The Changeling. </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The event series was initially supposed to film last summer but was delayed due to the ongoing strikes. The show also moved locations from Belfast to Prague. Ridley Scott is only on board as an executive producer role through his Scott Free productions banner. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It was announced roughly 2 years ago that <i>Blade Runner 2099</i> would be coming to the Amazon Prime streaming platform. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">"We are delighted to continue our working relationship with our friends at Amazon. And we are beyond excited to continue to extend the Blade Runner canon into a new realm with the provocative storyline that Silka has created", said Alcon Entertainment CEO Andrew Kosove. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It will be interesting to see if they can pull off Blade Runner as a streaming series. We're looking forward to it. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">-CG</span></div><p></p>Chris Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13972854242624389907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-90583266790127560562024-02-19T11:23:00.001-05:002024-02-19T19:18:35.393-05:00Diablo Cody's Horror-Comedy Comeback: Lisa Frankenstein (2024) - Reviewed<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk0pv4NDkFVRWpLu8gFM0dStg8iS3O3xwP8_v8ojvls8m0fCzlGVCEwcqUB0WQS90iuvPzeOonA1vzhy9zq4g65VvZXzeQC75PkgoaA5JENhSBG0PU1lymxFbF87BQvYUdfZOg28Wkre3gqHFz99UlOYj6tACOLwiZEvxbtkoqvc4sHW8WQmSOL7Ek9a26/s777/Lisa%20Franenstein%20banner.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="777" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk0pv4NDkFVRWpLu8gFM0dStg8iS3O3xwP8_v8ojvls8m0fCzlGVCEwcqUB0WQS90iuvPzeOonA1vzhy9zq4g65VvZXzeQC75PkgoaA5JENhSBG0PU1lymxFbF87BQvYUdfZOg28Wkre3gqHFz99UlOYj6tACOLwiZEvxbtkoqvc4sHW8WQmSOL7Ek9a26/w400-h225/Lisa%20Franenstein%20banner.webp" title="Lisa Frankenstein" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">All images courtesy: Focus Features</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><p></p><div class="Ar Au Ao" id=":vk"><div aria-controls=":xu" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Message Body" aria-multiline="true" aria-owns=":xu" class="Am aiL Al editable LW-avf tS-tW tS-tY" g_editable="true" hidefocus="true" id=":vg" role="textbox" spellcheck="false" style="direction: ltr; min-height: 375px;" tabindex="1"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">What a time to be alive, when a new film is proudly advertised
as being “from the acclaimed writer of <i>Jennifer’s Body</i>.” In recent years
the general moviegoing population has started to come around to the idea that
the 2009 horror/comedy, written and executive produced by Diablo Cody as her
carte-blanche follow-up project to <i>Juno</i>, is and always has been a
brilliant and subversive satire that came around years before American
pop-culture was ready for it. But American pop-culture was REALLY not ready for
it in 2009: while it found a passionate cult following from the start, it was widely
dismissed, misunderstood, and actively looked down on in the mainstream
discourse, in ways that were very symptomatic of the exact type of deeply-ingrained
cultural misogyny that the film was savagely satirizing. Diablo Cody, director
Karyn Kusama, and star Megan Fox have long deserved a major apology from the
moviegoing public and the critical establishment over how savagely <i>Jennifer’s
Body</i> was ripped apart when it came out; it was a temporary career-killer for
all of them, despite now being widely celebrated as a beloved cult-classic. Now
Diablo Cody has finally gotten that apology from Hollywood, in a chance to
return to the same genre territory and make a spiritual sequel/sister film to <i>Jennifer’s
Body</i>, <i>Lisa Frankenstein</i>. With Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin
Williams) directing, this feels like a wonderfully weird return to Cody’s
warped and highly stylized feminist-horror/comedy universe, albeit with a somewhat
different tone and focus. While upon my first viewing I’m inclined to say that
it doesn’t quite reach the same heights of subversive greatness that <i>Jennifer’s
Body </i>did, <i>Lisa Frankenstein</i> is absolutely a great dark comedy in its
own right, and one that absolutely deserves cult-classic status like its
predecessor – although hopefully this time it won’t take a decade to get it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VmkUrjI9tWm8WRVuTBuB40h5786PphX2oX7fL_3RTWup8pCnfFYXLNtctyFpTXVNYyWPZnbvFK1PPM9sppDVM6xZnbQL9bzPNr344V0XzwNZpPYxwq6gjcBaEqncV67p-pRzWHt9GOm4eguEPZJ2pdZPLxmm34WKU432PeMwkygYAoXkenvCmJjeHojC/s1920/Lisa%20Frankenstein%205.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VmkUrjI9tWm8WRVuTBuB40h5786PphX2oX7fL_3RTWup8pCnfFYXLNtctyFpTXVNYyWPZnbvFK1PPM9sppDVM6xZnbQL9bzPNr344V0XzwNZpPYxwq6gjcBaEqncV67p-pRzWHt9GOm4eguEPZJ2pdZPLxmm34WKU432PeMwkygYAoXkenvCmJjeHojC/w400-h225/Lisa%20Frankenstein%205.jpeg" title="Lisa Frankenstein" width="400" /></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It is 1989, and Lisa (Kathryn Newton) is a depressed and
isolated teenage outcast, treated cruelly by her peers at school, and treated even
worse by her abusive narcissist stepmom (Carla Gugino) at home. Her sanctuary from
it all is an abandoned turn-of-the-century cemetery deep in the woods, where
she spills out her feelings to the headstone of a young man who died a hundred years
ago, who has become a sort of imaginary-boyfriend. But then, through the film’s
warped fairytale logic, a wish made to the headstone and a bolt of lightning
brings the young man back from the dead, as a shambling and still-rotten (Lisa)
Frankenstein’s Monster (Cole Sprouse). He is totally devoted to her, and here
to help her through the trials and traumas of her teen-girl-outcast existence –
he just needs the occasional replacement part to freshen up his rotting body.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>Lisa Frankenstein</i> is very much a love-letter to a
particular era of weird, dark, and eccentric comedies about outsider teenage
protagonists that populated the late-80s and early-90s; the kind made by filmmakers
like Tim Burton, producer Denise DiNovi, and John Waters. A whole lot of <i>Heathers,
</i>just as much <i>Edward Scissorhands</i>, and a touch of <i>Hairspray, </i>filtered
through Diablo Cody’s distinctively over-the-top feminist horror-comedy lens.
Given that set of influences that the film very much wears on its sleeve, it
should be no surprise that <i>Lisa Frankenstein</i> is definitely a different
type of film from <i>Jennifer’s Body</i>: less bombastic gory horror elements (unlike
its predecessor, this film just barely gets away with a PG-13), and more
character-driven sardonic humor about the experiences of teen-girl angst and
isolation. The film’s first half finds much of its humor skewering the casual
cruelness that abounds just beneath the surface of its hyper-stylized and deliberately
artificial pastel-colored suburbia. The second half moves into much more <i>Heathers</i>-ish
biting dark comedy, using its horror elements very effectively while keeping
its footing very much in outsider teen-comedy territory. And yet while it is a very
different film from <i>Jennifer’s Body</i> in a lot of stylistic and tonal
ways, it nonetheless absolutely feels like a sibling film and spiritual sequel.
Indeed, Diablo Cody has gone as far as to say that <i>Lisa Frankenstein</i> is
set in the same universe as <i>Jennifer’s Body</i>, and it definitely feels
like it, despite the different focus.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NpQ5MT5yqHQ5wMO189rq_mRqy02X93VmLlcTF28AOz44EY1OkBcGLw7iZiGm3PxdkfCFQ0Qj6azMnxSA-sca6nQCKEO0wO5wi61bgkldYPP9nkaa7hFDl88nKeYApsbuINkzaILZpCL4u0B4qdX9cBmLr1CGiu_XAz1g5X2FPJLwtHaclDyNMLk1kiGb/s1500/Lisa%20Frankenstein%203.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-NpQ5MT5yqHQ5wMO189rq_mRqy02X93VmLlcTF28AOz44EY1OkBcGLw7iZiGm3PxdkfCFQ0Qj6azMnxSA-sca6nQCKEO0wO5wi61bgkldYPP9nkaa7hFDl88nKeYApsbuINkzaILZpCL4u0B4qdX9cBmLr1CGiu_XAz1g5X2FPJLwtHaclDyNMLk1kiGb/w400-h266/Lisa%20Frankenstein%203.jpeg" title="Lisa Frankenstein" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Cody’s script is unashamedly very stylized and weird, in a
way that viewers are going to either really love or find quite alienating, as was
the case with <i>Jennifer’s Body </i>before it. This isn’t trying to be a movie
for everyone, but if you are on Cody’s odd wavelength, the dialogue and
character beats really work, and are very funny. The art design and central performances
are essential to selling her weird vision, and both are absolutely up to the
task. The colorful art design of the film’s heightened suburban world is
fantastic; very <i>Edward Scissorhands</i>, in a way that perfectly suits the
film, and that feels like an affectionate homage to early Tim Burton rather
than derivative of it. The colorfulness is also very fitting for the film’s
title; it totally nails the concept of a Lisa Frank/Frankenstein hybrid
aesthetic. The music is also on-point, with a very good score, and excellent
and well-used late-80s post-punk needle-drops by bands like Echo and the
Bunnymen and The Jesus And Mary Chain.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The central performances are all very strong and well-suited
to the material as well. Kathryn Newton is excellent as Lisa, bringing humor
and sincere emotion and psychological depth to the troubled character, and
keeping her a likable protagonist even as things spiral out of control. Carla
Gugino devours the scenery as Lisa’s wicked stepmother: a dialed-up-to-11 narcissistic
villain performance with major <i>Mommie Dearest/Carrie</i> energy, and just
the right amount of camp. Cole Sprouse has easily the toughest job, with the
entirely physical role of the mute Lisa Frankenstein’s Monster, and he knocks
it out of the park. Using body language, physicality, and unintelligible
grunts, he is able to make the creature an emotionally complex character who we
genuinely feel for.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNvpPGqZNcbrKGdZOzFxQljvsOjbnqlVgVqjvAH-c8FpRxK-GO6YdFgBzkw135vlzEh1OyOf59rJRrNF7n4rqvgYE1VJ85qhHUniVQR1UWpY5PHFnHGspwbnl8omIOMJ0e06a2XfF7tuRlHB1wDpoHcScXv19Rj5EQGU-dua17yZ18uJuQHKvgePbzBcK/s780/Lisa%20Frankenstein%204.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="780" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNvpPGqZNcbrKGdZOzFxQljvsOjbnqlVgVqjvAH-c8FpRxK-GO6YdFgBzkw135vlzEh1OyOf59rJRrNF7n4rqvgYE1VJ85qhHUniVQR1UWpY5PHFnHGspwbnl8omIOMJ0e06a2XfF7tuRlHB1wDpoHcScXv19Rj5EQGU-dua17yZ18uJuQHKvgePbzBcK/w400-h225/Lisa%20Frankenstein%204.jpeg" title="Lisa Frankenstein" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>Lisa Frankenstein</i> does have its flaws, and there were a couple
narrative elements that I wasn’t totally convinced by. It takes a bit for the plot
to really hit its stride, and for its dark-comedy tone to fully set. It is
definitely a good movie from the start, with all the promising elements in
place, but I felt it took a little bit for those elements to click together
into something truly great. It gets there though, and I found that the film
gets better as it goes along, in a way that I suspect will make it really fun on
repeat viewings as well. I also wasn’t sold on the plot-devicey fairytale-magic
kind of way that the creature is brought to life, and I wish it had leaned into
the Frankenstein half of its play-on-words title a bit more, where that part of
the story is concerned. But on the other hand, this movie is at its core a
character piece and not a sci-fi story, and how and why the creature is alive
doesn’t really matter; it just matters that he is alive, and now Lisa has to
figure out how to handle the situation. So perhaps the film’s approach is the
right one, rather than getting bogged down in a narrative explanation that is
ultimately besides the point. And that is a small narrative gripe that is quickly
forgiven once the story gets moving, and Lisa and the creature’s relationship
starts developing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbyNe-b02Eu268aNaVoqDnnazlcD0-63tS4t0t_lW7qOuJny9gB7RK2nFygnkBVGZtomTjrnNTLZg3RRFsAVAhuiGvc7pqbT8dLSjBRdy8_qY_pLrmKUtQowI7qa27IWLA3BBSYVUzKOLBLAx3C8LKOKLx7htscTbpDNPiSjWoqKE9ymNEmSS_FnnSi1Lf/s2560/Lisa%20Frankenstein%202.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1707" data-original-width="2560" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbyNe-b02Eu268aNaVoqDnnazlcD0-63tS4t0t_lW7qOuJny9gB7RK2nFygnkBVGZtomTjrnNTLZg3RRFsAVAhuiGvc7pqbT8dLSjBRdy8_qY_pLrmKUtQowI7qa27IWLA3BBSYVUzKOLBLAx3C8LKOKLx7htscTbpDNPiSjWoqKE9ymNEmSS_FnnSi1Lf/w400-h266/Lisa%20Frankenstein%202.webp" title="Lisa Frankenstein" width="400" /></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Those small flaws
or narrative quibbles aside, <i>Lisa
Frankenstein</i> is a very strong,
very compelling film, especially as it hits its narrative and tonal stride as
it goes on. Diablo Cody remains an extremely unique comedy voice, and her
return to the world of gleefully weird feminist horror-comedy is just as
memorable as the first time. Her quirky style won’t be for everyone, but if it’s
your cup of tea, you will most likely love <i>Lisa Frankenstein</i>. I would
still give the edge to <i>Jennifer’s
Body</i> as the better film of the two,
but this one comes impressively close. The great performances and fantastically
heightened art design perfectly compliment Cody’s script, and Zelda Williams
proves herself to be a strong director well-suited to the odd sensibility of
the material. With Cody explicitly saying that <i>Lisa Frankenstein</i> is set
within the same narrative universe as <i>Jennifer’s Body</i>, one can’t
help but wonder if she is planning to keep building out a larger camp-horror-comedy
cinematic universe, with more sibling films and sort-of-sequels to come. I
truly hope so, and I hope that unlike <i>Jennifer’s Body</i>, <i>Lisa Frankenstein</i> is successful enough that Cody and Williams will get to keep playing
in this warped sandbox.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">- Christopher
S. Jordan</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Share this review!</span></p></div></div><span></span>Christopher S. Jordanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16848556507809426620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-85381796478583538482024-02-18T18:51:00.004-05:002024-02-19T19:19:05.799-05:00Admirable Debut Suffers from Clichés: Good Grief (2023) - Reviewed <div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YuhwV7df0u8rTSjQT1IBMlebyD6Bgb4R8KF30GxEcFK81DgItDoUyRM8kUhtxiV-on_C0vDYKHK01CIQSgOK4LGAM2LcswNr8Kf7gqzkLDd4UhRlTXozA3huFb8ne9z1EXj9YMxaXVsaR0ihWzkx1ZFBo9lISscmbYXUTbBHUaih34esi0gDxlPl4Ig/s1000/IMG_0446.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6YuhwV7df0u8rTSjQT1IBMlebyD6Bgb4R8KF30GxEcFK81DgItDoUyRM8kUhtxiV-on_C0vDYKHK01CIQSgOK4LGAM2LcswNr8Kf7gqzkLDd4UhRlTXozA3huFb8ne9z1EXj9YMxaXVsaR0ihWzkx1ZFBo9lISscmbYXUTbBHUaih34esi0gDxlPl4Ig/w400-h225/IMG_0446.webp" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Image courtesy of Netflix</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">Indie films becomi</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">ng a bigger business means </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">more diverse stories can b</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">e told. Last year’s </span><span class="s2" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21.6px;">Our Son</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> depicts a divorce and custody drama between a gay couple portrayed by</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">Billy Porter and Luke Evans. Evans also appeared</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> in gay widower drama </span><span class="s2" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21.6px;">Good Grief</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> as Oliver, who dies and leaves husband Marc (Dan Levy) alone. </span></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> Good </span><span class="s2" style="line-height: 21.6px;">Grief</span></i><span class="s2" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21.6px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">is an admirable </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">debut from writer/</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">director Levy</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> that tries to depict what widowhood is like but fails to deliver much emotional heft. Th</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">e film accurately depicts some </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">general aspects of being a widow(er), but seems to lack more specific details</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> that someon</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">e who has experienced this might</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> know. <br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">What is accurate is the </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">Marc’s</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">overuse of sweatpants and sweaters </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">and</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> over sharing</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> of his</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> status during conversations with strangers</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">. </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">This reality provides Levy</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> with endless opportuni</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">ties to monologue and</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> seem genuine. Some of the scenes </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">feel like an attempt at</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> M</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">umblecore </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">kind</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> of hon</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">esty and verisimilitude, but </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">many of these </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">scenes come across as flat</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">.</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> Levy seems to be doing his best here, but the depth of emotions of a widower can have are missing from many speeches. <br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">Clichés</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> create more distance from the drama, as Marc is ‘helped’ by his two friends Sophie (a middle-aged, manic pixie dream girl) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), the ex-turned-friend who might still have feelings for Marc. </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">They accompany Marc to Paris to help deal with the luxurious apartment </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">that Oliver (Evans) had purchased without telling Marc. As more is revealed about the apartment and Oliver</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">, the impacts </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">of the revelations </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">are lessened when it’s revealed that Marc is a bit of an unreliable narrator</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">. <br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">Another disconnect from the story could happen if the viewer isn’t able to relate to a rich illustrator/painter (Marc) whose even wealthier husband passes away. There are some sweet moments between Marc and his financial planner Imelda (Celia Imrie), which might be relatable if the viewer </span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">also has a financial planner</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">.<br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">Levy has demonstrated that he has the writing, producing</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">, and directing chops to deliver something as moving as </span><span class="s2" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21.6px;">Schitt’s Creek</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">. His work on </span><span class="s2" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21.6px;">Grief</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> is a sign that he has skills that can mature and deliver something that’s a step up from this film </span><a name="_GoBack"></a><span style="line-height: 21.6px;">debut. <br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span class="s2" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 21.6px;">Good Grief</span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"> is currently streaming on Netflix. <br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></span><span style="line-height: 21.6px;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">- EB</span></span></div>Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12891321763081294306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-84207825081601426282024-02-16T13:04:00.004-05:002024-02-17T10:14:00.115-05:00Coming Soon: Blood Dried Hands (2024) - Reviewed <p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKXgUxUZ1U2lZuvHQW9aECNX39LwDQHgXmoqFCWerlHKOBIeza72QSSSRghmwRst1FDgysN3NaTI259YZV2XcmoCXmwzzMS3ETP6APv0Pn97pDQxxgwKvmbjgh7_avfhyphenhyphenC58uO4JgPfJefewveemwaybEOcKYV6J_VTIpO2JVEAGpOgjGl_JD0rRkRZuO/s4096/MV5BOTc3OWZiMjQtMjBmYi00YzdlLTkzMTYtMmFlNTQzZTgxNmFmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA5NTg5MzMx._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1716" data-original-width="4096" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKXgUxUZ1U2lZuvHQW9aECNX39LwDQHgXmoqFCWerlHKOBIeza72QSSSRghmwRst1FDgysN3NaTI259YZV2XcmoCXmwzzMS3ETP6APv0Pn97pDQxxgwKvmbjgh7_avfhyphenhyphenC58uO4JgPfJefewveemwaybEOcKYV6J_VTIpO2JVEAGpOgjGl_JD0rRkRZuO/w400-h168/MV5BOTc3OWZiMjQtMjBmYi00YzdlLTkzMTYtMmFlNTQzZTgxNmFmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA5NTg5MzMx._V1_.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images Courtesy of Tempting Fate Films</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a name='more'></a></span></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Serial killer films, novels, and television shows are
perhaps one of the most prolific genres in all of visual and written
entertainment. What separates the sea of mediocrity from the few true
gems is how these artworks explore the human condition. It is not so much
the violence, the crime scenes, or the villain, but more so the human elements
in between, the drama of detectives staring the abyss in the face while trying
to salvage their own mortality is, and will continue to be the ambrosia that draws
audiences to these works again and again. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Jason Vandygriff's debut feature film, <i>Blood Dried
Hands</i>, is one of the most original approaches to the subject matter ever
attempted. Holding more in common with unusual epics than traditional
serial killer fodder, Vandygriff creates a flawed world of broken heroes,
desperate demons, and wayward souls that swirl around a vortex of impending violence.
Featuring a refreshingly human ensemble, hauntingly poetic visuals, and a
unique premise, this is one of the most imaginative films of the year thus
far. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9u7_H_ynvX0GtZEiqpFyM9Ihfvc9Q5yvDUvus9JEpsyiMlvYD143WYKUvV9uCJLJR0d5ccm_dMBAY48sAbXdzb-m1TwMCNfW8tm7-IHpW9Devc0r20rHBFGHNsqLsq1qYxHdg4KU94EQNTqkL7Y-n0eaFfImb0_Ao1xKJ9XMHf8IRE2ZrV30hLmTj87so/s4096/MV5BMWE1NjBlOTEtZjQ5Yi00Njc3LTk0NTgtYjNhYTgwYjkzMDA3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA5NTg5MzMx._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1716" data-original-width="4096" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9u7_H_ynvX0GtZEiqpFyM9Ihfvc9Q5yvDUvus9JEpsyiMlvYD143WYKUvV9uCJLJR0d5ccm_dMBAY48sAbXdzb-m1TwMCNfW8tm7-IHpW9Devc0r20rHBFGHNsqLsq1qYxHdg4KU94EQNTqkL7Y-n0eaFfImb0_Ao1xKJ9XMHf8IRE2ZrV30hLmTj87so/w400-h168/MV5BMWE1NjBlOTEtZjQ5Yi00Njc3LTk0NTgtYjNhYTgwYjkzMDA3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA5NTg5MzMx._V1_.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">A serial killer is butchering young women while a detective
with a traumatic past is trying to stop his rampage. In an unexpected
twist the killer begins to question his compulsions leading to a bloody chain
of events that forces everyone within his midst to question everything.
Vandygriff's script is unique in that focuses more on the minutiae. There is a
subplot that cannot avoid a <i>Silence of the Lambs</i> comparison, but beyond
the setup, the narrative diverges. This is a story of average people
dealing with extraordinary circumstances and part of the magic is in the
casting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vandygriff chose real people
and the story is richer as a result. <br />
<br />
Micah Marie Stevens stars Sharp, the detective on the trail of Chance Gibbs'
Hayden, a reluctant killer trying to make sense of the darkness that enraptures
him. Supporting is Vandigryff himself as a cryptic prisoner, stalwart
Texan character actor Billy Blairr, and Jordan Walker Ross as Sharp's partner
Collins, who gives one of the most vulnerable performances in the film. Rounding
out the cast is Samuel French as Sharp's husband and confidant and Anna Pena as
Taylor, Hayden's prisoner. French's scenes with Stevens are the lynchpin
exploring personal bereavement and redemption in equal turns, while Pena's
chemistry and dialogue with Gibbs is the inversion, light and dark dancing the
line of life and death, struggling for dominance. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZ1F-Tb5jFJ3mBd0gr1XJWvKURyijoOhY74fRTb1c9NRNuioc2yd32l8KvcKTCp5BQk1syLLSrgf9Yrvmo3zNwVtQKyl3UNpwpMJ50BonvDIw8QTaIXA8we9B2jPon_MJ1spdvOuoQwfN4GvGO8yd0b-6cAAsVorAC7BcqMTIi_9HdnachF2MiUXuJX1N/s4096/MV5BZmIyMzgwOWItOWI5My00M2Y3LTg2M2YtMzE3MDE4NzM0OTRiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA5NTg5MzMx._V1_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1716" data-original-width="4096" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZ1F-Tb5jFJ3mBd0gr1XJWvKURyijoOhY74fRTb1c9NRNuioc2yd32l8KvcKTCp5BQk1syLLSrgf9Yrvmo3zNwVtQKyl3UNpwpMJ50BonvDIw8QTaIXA8we9B2jPon_MJ1spdvOuoQwfN4GvGO8yd0b-6cAAsVorAC7BcqMTIi_9HdnachF2MiUXuJX1N/w400-h168/MV5BZmIyMzgwOWItOWI5My00M2Y3LTg2M2YtMzE3MDE4NzM0OTRiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA5NTg5MzMx._V1_.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Anthony Gutierrez's cinematography has an almost dreamlike quality that is perhaps symbolic of Hayden's moral conflicts and the way Gutierrez frames the small-town world dealing with big city monsters is masterful. This is a film that is in no hurry to get where it is going becuase the journey is of the most import. Upon viewing, the DNA of <i>True Detective</i> and <i>Criminal Minds</i> is apparent, but upon reflection films like Wes Craven's <i>Shocker</i> and Tim Ritter's original cut of <i>Sharks of the Corn</i> are closer in mood and intent. <i>Blood Dried Hands</i> is an original vision of a director who has a clear love for the medium, but is also not here to please anyone with expectations. The story belongs to his case and crew and they leaving everything on the stage. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">Now on the festival circuit and coming soon to digital on demand,
</span><i>Blood Dried Hands</i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> is a powerful, street level examination of what it
means to be a killer and how the past always comes home to roost. A
talented cast and crew elevate what could have been a forgettable independent
horror film into a thrilling, blood fueled drama in which justice, guilt, and
death comingle to create a cinematic experience that will linger within the
mind’s eye long after the credits roll.</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span>--Kyle Jonathan </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><!--more--></span><span><!--more--></span></span>Kyle Jonathan http://www.blogger.com/profile/13836235592101745522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-78145237132409769052024-02-14T10:30:00.002-05:002024-02-14T10:31:52.910-05:00With Great Power Comes Mediocrity: Madame Web (2024) - Reviewed <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFdxNatid0PZlpFV3mLfZYs0OFDjhyraHQwH9md4Pja5-tMQ5aVRRxT6K6TAEre9hUzDGHifHJCzqEwKVL-Xgum9BnPIzkg07BdgfUAhzPOPxbe0z1AsYnVjjHbI6ilbFwS27A-Ie_H_Y5KO_m_ZrHpFS09im_7GKLpD5ZEy0xUpgiZ5tCrvjKewWyrt5j/s1280/madame.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFdxNatid0PZlpFV3mLfZYs0OFDjhyraHQwH9md4Pja5-tMQ5aVRRxT6K6TAEre9hUzDGHifHJCzqEwKVL-Xgum9BnPIzkg07BdgfUAhzPOPxbe0z1AsYnVjjHbI6ilbFwS27A-Ie_H_Y5KO_m_ZrHpFS09im_7GKLpD5ZEy0xUpgiZ5tCrvjKewWyrt5j/w400-h225/madame.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">Image courtesy Sony Pictures</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"> <br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Sony's live action Spider-Verse continues to unspool in their latest unwatchable mess of a film, <i>Madame Web</i>. The movie, for all intents and purposes, is an enormous trash heap that capitalizes on Dakota Johnson's unwillingness to emote along with three talented younger actresses that are given zero to work with. Sit around and look cute, they said. Do nothing else. </span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The script is barren of any stakes and creates nothing but incongruent plot holes for a series of films that has no bearing on anything other than wasting a budget on terribly rendered action sequences and computer-generated visuals straight out of the late '90s. It aligns with nothing they've done in this universe to date while sadly attempting to connect to the Peter Parker storyline unsuccessfully. We should all be thankful for that. </span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>Madame Web </i>creeps slowly and boringly through a baseline story about a bad man in a spidey-suit that wants to destroy three teenage female webslingers that will come for him in the future. Enter one stone faced, bored to tears Dakota Johnson that's here to save the day and to vanquish the evil-doer with her mystical arachnid powers from the jungles and caverns of Peru. Johnson is just not fit to carry the weight of a comic book franchise, much less a movie THIS bad. She's embarrassingly devoid of any emotion and has no issue showing that she can't react to anything with surprise or dynamic. She stands around looking bored to tears even when her character's life is in peril. </span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzCQNIcgwCjLSq_B3kIpDl45qOIX2w9bHjI_chD0EvSVQzUamrtZTihx5gs5EqfM8Y-T_GVjAiKHFoUDDEuJ3NQk_PXPcfNsgERSAJIQE96SCTmQ7vMlYLcILz30fknFn52JCQPMiFEaD22wY_ov3vXdGW5RrbJQFTqhj_XA3UFCmP7z8vggVf1R8SrmQX/s2000/mad.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1126" data-original-width="2000" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzCQNIcgwCjLSq_B3kIpDl45qOIX2w9bHjI_chD0EvSVQzUamrtZTihx5gs5EqfM8Y-T_GVjAiKHFoUDDEuJ3NQk_PXPcfNsgERSAJIQE96SCTmQ7vMlYLcILz30fknFn52JCQPMiFEaD22wY_ov3vXdGW5RrbJQFTqhj_XA3UFCmP7z8vggVf1R8SrmQX/w640-h360/mad.webp" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;">I'm so bored. Anyone have a sandwich?</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span>Enter one Tahar Rahim as the villain Ezekiel Sims, who is woefully miscast as the antagonist. Either this man can't act or he's just doing his damnedest to ham it up for bored to tears audiences. Nearly all of his lines are quite obviously overdubbed and sound unnatural to the point of offensiveness. Adding in the trio of Sydney Sweeney, who is really too talented for this rubbish, Isabela Merced, who was amazing in the live action </span><i>Dora The Explorer</i><span> movie, and Celeste O'Connor, a rising star in several genre films, ends up dragging this rubbish straight to the landfill of movie history. And then keeps piling it on. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">When the <i>Venom</i> films can be comparatively considered works of art, there's a serious problem at Sony Pictures. <i>Madame Web</i> is a symptom of a studio that has no idea what they're doing with characters that should be interesting and treated with some level of respect. And the fact that none of these female heroes are even seen in their suits for more than sixty seconds of screen time screams desperation. They want a sequel SO bad but definitely won't be getting one. I usually hate the term, "No one asked for this". Well, no one asked for this. </span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">This is bottom rung comic book movie making that only adds more steam to the current talk of oversaturation and fatigue. A few years ago <i>Madame Web </i>might have been considered fun for the sake of its corniness. Now, it's just another movie that will quickly make it to streaming before anyone even has a chance to ask why the hell they're trying to rewrite the history of Ben Parker and Mary Parker in a flick that has no right to even be connected to anything in the current run of Disney/Marvel Spider-Man films. </span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">We've heard of several big budget studio flicks being pulled from the release schedule lately. Well, <i>Madame Web </i>is one of those that might have been better off as a limited series or a streaming show because this straight up did not work as a movie whatsoever. The people behind this one should retire. There is nothing to like here. And advertising this <i>thing </i>as an action film featuring three kick ass spider heroines was a total misdirect. Stay at home. Save your money. </span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Yes. They also waste Emma Roberts and Adam Scott in this drivel. Out. </span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">-CG</span></p><p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Chris Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13972854242624389907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-43804801642474666122024-02-13T12:58:00.000-05:002024-02-13T12:58:09.141-05:00Arrow Video: Fear is the Key (1972) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8YnYu55osktv6NwI7R_IODnRJFEmt09fFhPXF3lT3px9V1yKjYfOTwg-oNX_Vjr9U3_wSUyJMNojkklprFUBC2P-TR6fa6mcbXTUAiMfXpnpPlnj3L_Nq7-go9XtQnYebtOdHX6kkIh1r7Xh0lnEEdUp7GJ13UkC4zeLk-PBpUgFJLhojOgkzOOxQfOU/s1430/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1430" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8YnYu55osktv6NwI7R_IODnRJFEmt09fFhPXF3lT3px9V1yKjYfOTwg-oNX_Vjr9U3_wSUyJMNojkklprFUBC2P-TR6fa6mcbXTUAiMfXpnpPlnj3L_Nq7-go9XtQnYebtOdHX6kkIh1r7Xh0lnEEdUp7GJ13UkC4zeLk-PBpUgFJLhojOgkzOOxQfOU/w400-h211/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="fear is the key 1972" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Arrow Video</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">In the last few months or so, Arrow Video has been
unearthing and re-releasing some highly underrated action thriller films from
the 1970s in deluxe limited edition blu-ray sets that have long been overlooked
if not forgotten to time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among them
have been John Frankenheimer’s <i>Black Sunday</i>, Peter Yates’ <i>Murphy’s
War</i> and Michael Tuchner’s 1972 adaptation of Alistair MacLean’s <i>Fear is
the Key</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coming off of the heels of <i>Vanishing
Point </i>also prominently starring Barry Newman and featuring elegantly staged
car chases from Carey Loftin of <i>The French Connection</i>, the film starts
out right away as a stunning actioner before shifting gears into a number of
unexpected thriller subgenres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjtfrgpb0gOgM3VmwboZupnnwrExQfaQ_yBkkg5p8NUfel0nKOcQ_m7ScoDvv3N5CAiZHIhQKNmlh9Zr6d72mYjl679OGTEIcF2IZKS3LG2Lm3oU0VxBC36veoRK7gLwIbKG4HRVyc1Pry8LOhzBMI6e7zEfWaeeojez8QaN87L-_Y-oVSR2SLzUZAmg/s580/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="580" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjtfrgpb0gOgM3VmwboZupnnwrExQfaQ_yBkkg5p8NUfel0nKOcQ_m7ScoDvv3N5CAiZHIhQKNmlh9Zr6d72mYjl679OGTEIcF2IZKS3LG2Lm3oU0VxBC36veoRK7gLwIbKG4HRVyc1Pry8LOhzBMI6e7zEfWaeeojez8QaN87L-_Y-oVSR2SLzUZAmg/w400-h225/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%201.jpg" title="fear is the key 1972" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>While sporting the screen debut of Ben Kingsley and unlikely
turns from Suzy Kendall and John Vernon, it proved to be a box office failure domestically
but nevertheless became a hit overseas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thanks to Arrow Video’s ongoing efforts to bring these hard to see
Paramount Pictures titles to filmgoers in digitally remastered collector’s
sets, modern audiences have a chance to experience one of the most underrated
and technically brilliant twisty-turning action-adventure thrillers of the early
1970s long overdue for cult reappraisal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br />
</span><o:p> <br /></o:p>In small-town Louisiana an enigmatic drifter named John
Talbot (Barry Newman) is passing through town when he holds up a cheap restaurant
and gets himself arrested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On trial
where it is revealed there’s a longstanding warrant for a series of crimes
committed by Talbot, the feisty drifter springs to action by shooting a cop in
the courtroom and taking bystander Sarah Ruthven (Suzy Kendall) hostage in an
explosive extended car chase sequence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, not all is what it seems as further intrigue leads to sleazy
mercurial characters including but not limited to an oil tycoon, a murky
private detective and ruthless thugs all loosely tied to a downed plane in the
ocean deep with a grave secret.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4CDzESwdhTG_as9JHxJ11NoKPcTNtrAbhbdV7Wygq47sSrWDBNr7g1q56Tx3saQPFVJ23FImofXoa9xI6ZFlhUKoanU7-A6kdx83xTHdZBmrSi7bot8pNGU116Ab0ISwl65iKvePiF-oSAmCFN2tASSAt8vE17uFvrgeBnPBYD9tucaVzhsbIwIppB0/s1599/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="859" data-original-width="1599" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc4CDzESwdhTG_as9JHxJ11NoKPcTNtrAbhbdV7Wygq47sSrWDBNr7g1q56Tx3saQPFVJ23FImofXoa9xI6ZFlhUKoanU7-A6kdx83xTHdZBmrSi7bot8pNGU116Ab0ISwl65iKvePiF-oSAmCFN2tASSAt8vE17uFvrgeBnPBYD9tucaVzhsbIwIppB0/w400-h215/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%202.jpg" title="fear is the key 1972" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Initially bursting onscreen as a kind of <i>First Blood </i>action
thriller where a seeming madman is triggered into violent escape before
shifting gears into a labyrinthine <i>James Bond </i>kind of thriller full of
double crossings, elaborate set pieces and wild villainy, <i>Fear is the Key </i>is
a taut, revelatory actioner shot beautifully by renowned <i>Excalibur </i>cinematographer
Alex Thomson and scored with jazzy cool by <i>Get Carter </i>composer Roy Budd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film is cut with a whip by legendary <i>2001:
A Space Odyssey </i>and <i>Aliens </i>editor Ray Lovejoy with the tense car
chases opening the film fueled by the razor-sharp editing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <br /> </span><o:p> <br /></o:p>It goes without saying much of the film rests on the
debonair cool of Barry Newman in a role that more or less gives him as much
driving to do as <i>Vanishing Point</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Suzy Kendall from <i>Thunderball </i>and <i>Torso</i> initially comes
onscreen as an unassuming bystander but soon herself gets caught up in the
action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fans of <i>National Lampoon’s
Animal House </i>will spot John Vernon playing an adversarial bigwig again
though the one that’ll really get filmgoers’ eyes lit is the early appearance
of a young Ben Kingsley as a bloodthirsty mad criminal enforcer with shades of
what would or wouldn’t become his psychotic gangster in <i>Sexy Beast</i>.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjNgzDgcqwW-Yl1M5NK7Qq859A2e0zfd9ckuOVb0_4AajIk0lzGQwl6HRraZf_dJfQpuQRivhuyGg3ofBJS4cjhh8iOBdk8Yx1sovOEfGQ6KcGq9tQrNqWM0iPNzTN40ozsfINHt7cvxCwrH77chSg6OB-6h-xCvd_DldCPCMvIrF92bUFc3vZ5NMNY4/s688/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="688" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjNgzDgcqwW-Yl1M5NK7Qq859A2e0zfd9ckuOVb0_4AajIk0lzGQwl6HRraZf_dJfQpuQRivhuyGg3ofBJS4cjhh8iOBdk8Yx1sovOEfGQ6KcGq9tQrNqWM0iPNzTN40ozsfINHt7cvxCwrH77chSg6OB-6h-xCvd_DldCPCMvIrF92bUFc3vZ5NMNY4/w400-h226/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%203.jpg" title="fear is the key 1972" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Though it flew under the radar of American filmgoers when it
first appeared in 1972 and its director Michael Tuchner only made a total of
six feature films after making a foray into television, the highly underrated,
criminally underseen <i>Fear is the Key </i>presented by Arrow Video is an
important piece of overlooked action-adventure thriller cinema with arresting
2.35:1 panoramic cinematography, incredible car chases and a tense yet cool
performance from Barry Newman. </span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb1s5pLp7lEN1nwAIfk5NtENatWh5XiH1flntmkIUNoum_U2TNV3b9aSgoVtKflf7dWmb2EBH5P-bi2XB0vdPqtN0pYRKZgMklTuGaE3CBK9BkTk6zTTgfZIAFOBXm1LOg0MjZ1y7uhWE4koBu9Y3-cvzJF-BXOf-qXCEBUn11bP7zq09FEnOWBzkyZ0E/s1264/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1264" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb1s5pLp7lEN1nwAIfk5NtENatWh5XiH1flntmkIUNoum_U2TNV3b9aSgoVtKflf7dWmb2EBH5P-bi2XB0vdPqtN0pYRKZgMklTuGaE3CBK9BkTk6zTTgfZIAFOBXm1LOg0MjZ1y7uhWE4koBu9Y3-cvzJF-BXOf-qXCEBUn11bP7zq09FEnOWBzkyZ0E/w400-h235/Fear%20is%20the%20Key%20-%204.jpg" title="fear is the key 1972" width="400" /></a></div></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">While the
poster suggests a giallo thriller with a gloved hand going over a random woman’s
mouth followed by a skull underneath, the actual film is anything but gialli
influenced or related. It is however a
terrific little number just as deserving of a strong cult following as its predecessor
<i>Vanishing Point </i>as well as being one of the most surprising and
innovative action-adventure films since <i>Runaway Train</i>!</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-6083761540930781792024-02-13T11:17:00.005-05:002024-02-13T11:17:48.184-05:00MVD Visual: Candy Land (2022) - Reviewed<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPA2v53O7YE9ibXmaU6OJlNbcayFsd206NIDAjPbwgTNF43xZgUb67YYCTMGUuWDff9rvlwspNZjrWT89lfWYzojBs4IkZshvqt_gMvr9i3L94PUPVqvjfm8lRlPOG9FO8fxgejG7oDNpurvEOYCNBQxN80fhMvL89ECGxUHYyaJIKMNnohKQXHQonjC0/s3840/Candy%20Land%20-%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPA2v53O7YE9ibXmaU6OJlNbcayFsd206NIDAjPbwgTNF43xZgUb67YYCTMGUuWDff9rvlwspNZjrWT89lfWYzojBs4IkZshvqt_gMvr9i3L94PUPVqvjfm8lRlPOG9FO8fxgejG7oDNpurvEOYCNBQxN80fhMvL89ECGxUHYyaJIKMNnohKQXHQonjC0/w400-h225/Candy%20Land%20-%20Cover.jpg" title="candy land 2022" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of MVD Visual</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The work of indie horror writer-director John Swab isn’t known
much yet outside of festival circuits or smaller outfits and streaming
networks, starting out with films like <i>Run with the Hunted</i> or <i>Body Brokers</i>
but still operating under the radar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, with her supporting appearance in <i>It Follows </i>and her terrifying
neo-Nazi murderess in <i>Soft & Quiet</i> and now John Swab’s 2022 horror film
<i>Candy Land</i>, the work of actress Olivia Luccardi is becoming increasingly
well known as one of contemporary cinema’s most ferocious horror heavies since
the recent emergence of Mia Goth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Starting
out usually in the background before slowly menacing her way to the center
stage, Luccardi is a remarkable new screen talent who usually herself winds up
being the most frightening thing about the horror shows she’s starring in and <i>Candy
Land </i>released through MVD Visual is no exception.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhml4Q7-Q0dN8cy6cdyLHMeL-cta8KKzz78L-kjxCwPkMkseu7G01iPIjKU2z0wjSM-4GqZWuslGjeOrW8uTEo3eW-SuttoFXisgCTw14pmTxWN-72nLuu7afRd_qxu6cAuM8HcHmFGrgdWjQLEKPtDSjAa0SCfLlSMUmpVxF5XXFztMO-wmGKWw3w3cuE/s3024/Candy%20Land%20-%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2005" data-original-width="3024" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhml4Q7-Q0dN8cy6cdyLHMeL-cta8KKzz78L-kjxCwPkMkseu7G01iPIjKU2z0wjSM-4GqZWuslGjeOrW8uTEo3eW-SuttoFXisgCTw14pmTxWN-72nLuu7afRd_qxu6cAuM8HcHmFGrgdWjQLEKPtDSjAa0SCfLlSMUmpVxF5XXFztMO-wmGKWw3w3cuE/w400-h265/Candy%20Land%20-%201.jpg" title="candy land 2022" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>In the American Midwest in the open desert terrain lies a
group of truck stop sex workers dubbed ‘lot lizards’ comprised of Sadie (Sam
Quartin), Riley (Eden Brolin), Liv (Virginia Rand) and Levi (Owen Campbell) ruled
with an iron fist by madam Nora (Guinevere Turner from <i>American Psycho</i>)
and occasionally treaded upon by local Sheriff Rex (William Baldwin).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One morning a young religious, naïve sexually
repressed woman named Remy (Olivia Luccardi) appears on their doorstep after
having recently been cast out of a cult and quickly ingratiates herself with
the lot lizards keen on grooming her into becoming one of their own in the line
of truck stop prostitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unbeknownst
to the group of rough and tough escort girls, their matriarch and law enforcement,
there’s a pious purge secretly in the works which our mysterious seemingly
innocent naif intends on carrying out.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwuN2DzgeJ21mgYpCHjQHO_FhSfhjkIg8V5JXNSgaliW5Y9BhQOBS13I_G7sP0Psl9JYdMGhrEwbdV3bod-0AOjevrLAWC6HywN-ZxzSb_GuqUKKIgyoGvJBRbiIg1eXYIg4uZh8Leyqrimo5nHnW2tVWc54Mu9nQH05CNXbGj5tstk-X2-lp_QuSAVn4/s636/Candy%20Land%20-%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="636" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwuN2DzgeJ21mgYpCHjQHO_FhSfhjkIg8V5JXNSgaliW5Y9BhQOBS13I_G7sP0Psl9JYdMGhrEwbdV3bod-0AOjevrLAWC6HywN-ZxzSb_GuqUKKIgyoGvJBRbiIg1eXYIg4uZh8Leyqrimo5nHnW2tVWc54Mu9nQH05CNXbGj5tstk-X2-lp_QuSAVn4/w400-h244/Candy%20Land%20-%202.jpg" title="candy land 2022" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Starting off like a <i>Gas Food Lodging </i>type of
midwestern sex drama before making a sharp invasive detour into literal and
figurative blood bathing spiraling out of control towards an everybody-dies
type shocker, <i>Candy Land </i>like its outwardly innocent and pure knife
wielder lulls you into a false sense of security before slowly transforming into
a thriller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A bit of a chamber piece as
much of the activity takes place in the truck stop arena with occasional forays
into hotel rooms or front seats of diesel trucks, one of the strengths of the
film is how it fools you into thinking we’re entering an ensemble piece about
the lives and hardships of sex workers before something else no one’s expecting
simply appears before them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFYWF7wMGFsLD3exrD1pTIZjPeCAJR5OAM50xhnP1xVk1rWye6s8oTICXi4rTlw3OcuFCOPUORJFhlCvpTLUJOCJ0SIFvn4bmUQ9ZEk-X1hSA65BkiL26EbUhPn1v3a00qmnbIHmg0oaenN33jdactnJvTewJg1EQOc5Ez60NOhfLTaZGweXvu3AN1fZo/s3024/Candy%20Land%20-%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2005" data-original-width="3024" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFYWF7wMGFsLD3exrD1pTIZjPeCAJR5OAM50xhnP1xVk1rWye6s8oTICXi4rTlw3OcuFCOPUORJFhlCvpTLUJOCJ0SIFvn4bmUQ9ZEk-X1hSA65BkiL26EbUhPn1v3a00qmnbIHmg0oaenN33jdactnJvTewJg1EQOc5Ez60NOhfLTaZGweXvu3AN1fZo/w400-h265/Candy%20Land%20-%203.jpg" title="candy land 2022" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Visually speaking Will Stone’s modest digital cinematography
is pretty and picturesque when it is regarding the open desert terrain on the
outskirts of the truck stop lots and David Sardy’s score is serviceable to the
steadily horror-oriented proceedings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
ensemble cast including but not limited to William Baldwin fresh off of his
turn in <i>Too Old to Die Young </i>as a crusty local sheriff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sam Quartin, Eden Brolin, Virginia Rand and
Owen Campbell all make the sex workers into tough rugged women who have been
around the block and are quick to assume the role of mentorship to their new “innocent”
recruit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As aforementioned with <i>Soft
& Quiet</i>, the reason to see this film is for Olivia Luccardi who is
starting to give Mia Goth a run for her money in terms of leaving an
unforgettable, searing impression that is equal parts horny but mostly
homicidal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s two movies in a row
Luccardi crept into an ensemble piece only to completely steal the show from
everyone.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zm26qXwf_VdKU7UhQtnp86tJdMfe3OyjnUiMCofv2JmkZ0jwC2hhO5psFUvcsxzgzFbBeTk6sw4acZrW85FSyuLJps1myDduRCPfjxJfC1JFuyGSk1ZqvtQuSP8wlaOD6m0EMrxxIrPkCp-Q0k6uG9ywvQbcWaHkn7REN5djUtra-j83lOpb3O7gfRU/s1920/Candy%20Land%20-%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zm26qXwf_VdKU7UhQtnp86tJdMfe3OyjnUiMCofv2JmkZ0jwC2hhO5psFUvcsxzgzFbBeTk6sw4acZrW85FSyuLJps1myDduRCPfjxJfC1JFuyGSk1ZqvtQuSP8wlaOD6m0EMrxxIrPkCp-Q0k6uG9ywvQbcWaHkn7REN5djUtra-j83lOpb3O7gfRU/w400-h225/Candy%20Land%20-%204.jpg" title="candy land 2022" width="400" /></a></div></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p> <br /></o:p>Released on streaming and blu-ray disc from MVD Visual as
well as a director-commentary and digital press kit, <i>Candy Land </i>is another
solid addition to the indie-horror thriller subgenre with an unlikely mixture
of sex, religion and the so-called acts of “cleansing”. Spearheaded by a ferocious new female horror heavy
who is almost like a cheetah, Luccardi more than makes the film integral to any
bloodthirsty slasher fan’s ever-expanding collection of thrills and chills. Surprisingly well made, uncompromising and
leaving you with much to ponder once the horrors have ceased, <i>Candy Land </i>represents
another important new release from MVD Visual and genre fans should take keen
notice of Olivia Luccardi as an explosive new horror talent unafraid to go off
the deep end with reckless, almost feral abandon.</span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Andrew Kotwicki</span></div>
akotwicki123http://www.blogger.com/profile/16223524557974969984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-78019175584152441832024-02-10T15:14:00.002-05:002024-02-10T15:14:32.505-05:00May The Force Be With You: The Phantom Menace Returning to Theaters for 25th Anniversary<p style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQeTx35ixHJ3mPtQBRD83gvHaxhsFcC6rejrwEekCgk7mtt4054VAi9N9hN8yYebMKh0o_v864AFxuMAKa3PNOHlOdv5FiP5UUdYMH2t7dTrr6xZzoKJZAKatSxTjy1EtaNZTXg6490fNlUd1-vzsqUHzPqOamskNMm5vlihTo1v_MRYj52HT8IICOkMf/s960/ep1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQeTx35ixHJ3mPtQBRD83gvHaxhsFcC6rejrwEekCgk7mtt4054VAi9N9hN8yYebMKh0o_v864AFxuMAKa3PNOHlOdv5FiP5UUdYMH2t7dTrr6xZzoKJZAKatSxTjy1EtaNZTXg6490fNlUd1-vzsqUHzPqOamskNMm5vlihTo1v_MRYj52HT8IICOkMf/w400-h225/ep1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;">images courtesy Lucasfilm</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It seems like it was just yesterday when George Lucas' prequel trilogy was in theaters. It's been announced that Episode I: The Phantom Menace will be getting a theatrical re-release for its 25 anniversary. It will begin screening in theaters on May 3rd. The film was initially released on May 1999 to mixed reviews. It seems to gain more positivity from SW fans as the years go on, despite the always annoying Gungan, Jar-Jar Binks. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Despite divisive opinions of the film, it went on to be a massive hit for Lucasfilm prior to Disney's buyout. It went on to gross just over $1 billion in ticket sales during its initial run and subsequent re-releases which included a 3D version. The other two movies in the prequel saga were to be released in 3D as well but were ultimately cancelled due to low box office for The Phantom Menace in 3D. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The latest cinematic release of the film will celebrate the movie's anniversary and has a brand new poster from artist Matt Ferguson. Check it out below.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kfecz3amaJqhIZcdoC5OCSJ_tWtdvMCgTvSGDsD5oGtL7q9_KXayrb2jHLj0XJLL1xkUVDwKxyCvu8t0RDz5ZoiYm1wmKGfaRE-JwKSOs5wys6fy8zdMiiW5yYVnBdCoESm5U4zi8-Yqdv-0yoIJBn0fuP85v5wZNNhN4TFrqcp2NaanVCDW_ordictG/s1000/ep12.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="677" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8kfecz3amaJqhIZcdoC5OCSJ_tWtdvMCgTvSGDsD5oGtL7q9_KXayrb2jHLj0XJLL1xkUVDwKxyCvu8t0RDz5ZoiYm1wmKGfaRE-JwKSOs5wys6fy8zdMiiW5yYVnBdCoESm5U4zi8-Yqdv-0yoIJBn0fuP85v5wZNNhN4TFrqcp2NaanVCDW_ordictG/w434-h640/ep12.jpeg" width="434" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p></p>Chris Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13972854242624389907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-28873791738686847772024-02-09T23:17:00.002-05:002024-02-10T10:17:53.179-05:00Third Window Films: The Future Doesn’t Exist: River (2023) - Reviewed <p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzNBIP78ICIXw4WAQGBlVnb4FA9Z3tFSq1ujKvwohgs9xA4wlVG0tvT4qOomacsPdW-keMV7mDtngyc8etImhVQBrkps5EaZrvHGB2mrpol9QXMunBPB0kK0s-OF5ahLVBqFmvJDq4HO9ZKZfu6Pia_gJS7OV_4S6a42zm0qm16YiI6ghjLcRmCTDCeQ/s1920/river_sub7.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxzNBIP78ICIXw4WAQGBlVnb4FA9Z3tFSq1ujKvwohgs9xA4wlVG0tvT4qOomacsPdW-keMV7mDtngyc8etImhVQBrkps5EaZrvHGB2mrpol9QXMunBPB0kK0s-OF5ahLVBqFmvJDq4HO9ZKZfu6Pia_gJS7OV_4S6a42zm0qm16YiI6ghjLcRmCTDCeQ/w400-h225/river_sub7.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Third Window Films</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Director Junta Yamaguchi's previous film, <i>Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes</i> (2020), was a quirky breakout low-budget hit that used its sci-fi time travel premise in various clever ways. In that film, the characters had the ability to see two minutes into the future, and the script built on that premise exponentially, with a large dose of humor infused into the wacky atmosphere. In his newest film, <i>River</i> (2023), Yamaguchi is still working with a two-minute time limit, but now it's a time loop that has imprisoned the inhabitants of Fujiya, a sleepy, snow-dusted inn in Kibune, Kyoto.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The story centers on Mikoto (Riko Fujitani), a waitress at the inn. During a slow afternoon shift, she goes outside to take a breather at the Kibune River, located right outside the building. After finishing her break, she goes back inside to tend to her duties, but exactly two minutes later, she is warped to her previous position, standing at the edge of the river. Although she is initially disoriented and confused, she again tries to go about her day, but two minutes later, it happens again; she is back where she started by the water. It appears that the inn, the area around it, and all of the people are trapped in a two-minute long time loop. Fortunately, everyone keeps their memories each time it repeats, but nobody can figure out why it's happening.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Time loops as a concept feel inherently scary, tapping into primal existential horror. Stephen King once said, "There's an idea that hell is other people. My idea is that it might be repetition." Initially, the characters are running around scared and panicked as they grapple with the enormity of their situation. Eventually, they calm down a bit, and the staff decides that the best thing to do is serve their guests to the best of their abilities; time loop be damned. </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The mood is lighthearted for most of the runtime as all the characters adapt to their situation. Two guests are stuck eating rice together in their room, and their constant refilling of rice bowls is a delight at first, but it quickly turns to dismay when they get tired of eating the same thing repeatedly. One guest is confined to the bathhouse, and the time loop is too short for him to rinse the soap out of his hair, so he's always running around with suds on his scalp. Even though most of the characters are one-note, they are delightfully depicted and easy to care about.</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">On a technical level, <i>River</i> is well shot and dynamic, even though the entire film takes place in one location. Time travel, as a general concept, is infused with paradoxes, but they do a great job with the smaller details. Every character starts their loop in a different location, and they can only get to places two minutes away, so it's amusing to see how they overcome this limitation to meet up with each other and get things done. As the loop goes on, however, a few grim details start popping up, with people becoming suicidal and giving in to darker urges since everything is reset at the end of the loop. </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Thematically, River feels more philosophical and poignant than <i>Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes</i>. It explores mortality, regret, and trepidation about the future and changes, with each character harboring fears inside them that they are scared to vocalize. Mikoto is dating one of the staff and his uncertainty about their future together informs her actions, painting the time loop as a chance for them to reconcile perhaps. Can a relationship survive infinity, or does evolution and the passage of time enhance it?</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>River</i> is a heartfelt and ingenious take on time loops and makes an excellent companion piece to <i>Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes</i>. </span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Yf6yZCSgQ2YpPMOdubniuX-fWsNxA6wyutJ4QjCFjX2U055xPYW4oFRyhUkTjeh2T1r-0epfVdZUxSgwRkMGTrUrc5O0rR9lJSTfCcUqfXVUPoocsF-M3WSWIoWMfLHEfTqFEPPgKFzr3ksNYTV_fz6dTi0o0LcvsAcFetoIjz2YSlPGQvfeQSjJlcc/s1608/rivercover.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1608" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Yf6yZCSgQ2YpPMOdubniuX-fWsNxA6wyutJ4QjCFjX2U055xPYW4oFRyhUkTjeh2T1r-0epfVdZUxSgwRkMGTrUrc5O0rR9lJSTfCcUqfXVUPoocsF-M3WSWIoWMfLHEfTqFEPPgKFzr3ksNYTV_fz6dTi0o0LcvsAcFetoIjz2YSlPGQvfeQSjJlcc/w319-h400/rivercover.webp" width="319" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b>Third Window Films Blu-ray Extras:</b><br /><br /></span><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Interview with director Junta Yamaguchi</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• 1 hour long Making Of</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Trailer</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">• Region Free</span></div></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">--Michelle Kisner</span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12891321763081294306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-12257538014414410672024-02-09T17:15:00.001-05:002024-02-09T17:15:11.487-05:00An Evil Unleashed: Monster Inside (2023) - Reviewed <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfA-mA0UHjUtbHnhXCgPbgtRRUjJld9QV6GxXHW5swsMhvoFgh7bImSiJY4NZ858jWYBkhBPos67BjW2QBCAxa74X7WnpHTalf7usZIfvvOgfr55Q_W7SKiXXrYMfuLjwH_KXxeY0koi3ZOLi3mMfa6FRIemiK6bQC1I0WVswL4INy8l3ugbS58yjpV3Cx/s952/monsterinside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="952" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfA-mA0UHjUtbHnhXCgPbgtRRUjJld9QV6GxXHW5swsMhvoFgh7bImSiJY4NZ858jWYBkhBPos67BjW2QBCAxa74X7WnpHTalf7usZIfvvOgfr55Q_W7SKiXXrYMfuLjwH_KXxeY0koi3ZOLi3mMfa6FRIemiK6bQC1I0WVswL4INy8l3ugbS58yjpV3Cx/w400-h225/monsterinside.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy Hulu</span><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999;"> <br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Hulu has premiered its new horrifying documentary on the haunts at McKamey Manor, giving an inside look at the torture, torment and sheer terror that takes place inside the confines of Russ McKamey's residential fortress of pain and endurance. Initially built as a standard haunted house attraction, McKamey has become known for his all-out assault on the senses putting his attendees through full on mental and physical attacks that have left them harmed permanently. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The film chronicles the rather innocent beginnings of his attractions and follows through to current times with McKamey picking up shop and moving across the country to avoid the neighbors that had grown tired of his narcissistic antics. <i>Monster Inside</i> digs deep into the psyche of the folks that willingly attend his overnight torture events and gives a brooding view inside McKamey's harmful intent and the purist evil that somehow keeps people coming back. His manor has become less of a haunted house and is now a one-man business that exists on the pain and bloodshed of others. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXrtskCdtVJGdqtvYtf-rQUC82JLsRTbfnBvkRqHX7jokPr8qwcamYgjBqGVRqiYMhyphenhyphenIxdLf2pOjzB-yGtdYh3VL487lGQ-7TZ85sK4ZuxT_P2V0-T80X7_g1XvLQpaXGgC6Yw96ahbzOJt-E-2IpkSZzT8Ye4TByP8dMsQPTN3N2ApvGg1MyN5hhFHbk/s1393/monster.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999;"><img border="0" data-original-height="784" data-original-width="1393" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRXrtskCdtVJGdqtvYtf-rQUC82JLsRTbfnBvkRqHX7jokPr8qwcamYgjBqGVRqiYMhyphenhyphenIxdLf2pOjzB-yGtdYh3VL487lGQ-7TZ85sK4ZuxT_P2V0-T80X7_g1XvLQpaXGgC6Yw96ahbzOJt-E-2IpkSZzT8Ye4TByP8dMsQPTN3N2ApvGg1MyN5hhFHbk/w640-h360/monster.webp" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">However, the movie does take broad strokes to paint his victims (customers) as part of the problem. Although they're here to cast a vivid portrait of Mckamey's techniques and fortitude for brutality, they all admit that they willingly decided that they wanted to push their own physical and mental limits by being part of his horror project. Imagine torture porn without death with real life humans being pushed to the brink of a mental breakdown. McKamey Manor is a symptom of a larger problem and is also the work of a twisted mind. Yet, even the psychology professionals that are interviewed on film say that this is a worthwhile component for people that like to live on the edge and push their bodies to the limits. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>Monster Inside</i> reveals actual footage from the haunt, none of which is recreated. With just the minor glimpses they show in the docufilm, it's enough to induce an anxiety attack for those that might become claustrophobic or have general fears of being locked up and water boarded, beat into submission, or watching any type of physical trauma caused on people that signed off on a legal waiver. The entire thing is the definition of insanity. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Where McKamey initially designed his haunted houses as an event type destination, it has fully devolved into a personal project of pain. There are no redeeming qualities. There are no visual effects or costumes. Instead, it's now an overnight venture into a poorly designed hellscape all at the control mechanisms of one twisted individual. If you're a fan of horror, this is an interesting watch as it shows the entire spiral of McKamey's early beginnings as a local hero providing family entertainment to the later versions of his manor which exists solely to twist and maim his attendees. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">-CG</span></div><p></p>Chris Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13972854242624389907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4345873242193673884.post-62454832929343677412024-02-07T14:12:00.004-05:002024-02-07T15:59:08.381-05:00Coming Soon: Out of Darkness (2024) - Reviewed<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRgY95r596MKTyX3tFVVWtle0DRmmvXzbuZIw3Fx2jN8Wykuh7CDU4emIpJzeUcbwwbosOMhtmgOrgeWHeN_vZFhYJsED6nmt2toYQV8XtkQZOHhw1llWta1ttvduvm1w2V1td1pM5kMaOstjZLSHlAhsNQUV_Uy-JnYU1UfhiR48K22vAyYki8uGdw7u5/s3840/poster.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1754" data-original-width="3840" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRgY95r596MKTyX3tFVVWtle0DRmmvXzbuZIw3Fx2jN8Wykuh7CDU4emIpJzeUcbwwbosOMhtmgOrgeWHeN_vZFhYJsED6nmt2toYQV8XtkQZOHhw1llWta1ttvduvm1w2V1td1pM5kMaOstjZLSHlAhsNQUV_Uy-JnYU1UfhiR48K22vAyYki8uGdw7u5/w400-h183/poster.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Images courtesy of Bleeker Street</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The origins of mankind have always been an intriguing topic.
Dozens of books have explored it, yet sadly, there are only a handful of films
that have tackled the subject matter, even less so that have done it well.
Andrew Cumming's absolutely brutal feature film debut not only delves into the
primal history of humanity, it does it as a horror film. Combining
shocking violence, impassioned performances, and stunning cinematography, <i>Out
of Darkness</i> is one of the most enthralling films of the year, while also
doubling as one of the best entries into the genre thus far.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">A small group of primitive hunters enter a new, harsh land,
trying to find a place to survive. As they traverse a cruel wilderness, they
realize that not only are they not alone, but they are being hunted by
something in the darkness. Ruth Greenberg's screenplay creates its own Tola
Language, blending various vernaculars to give the hunter's speech credibility.
The cast does well with that they are given, but this is at its core a mean
mood piece, where violence, not words, is king. Safia Oakley-Green does well as
Beyah, the protagonist, a "stray" that the men picked up along the
way. Comparisons to <i>Prey</i> are unavoidable, however, <i>Darkness</i>
is a slow burn thriller, perhaps more in the vein of <i>Bone Tomahawk</i>. </span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-d2XOJIg_cWN2D1GiyHozCsfU3_CynIA3odKokoXG9VAy0T4lB88uoM_lGyd6nNFd0n13r6k3soZaMsK_xc5rAokI1sxIS7lL2oyPPJn9fYmMfxopXdaqhK752iLBNzZ7aYka8-ZyAPWymBRx0B_ykz35JskCBeEeoJVAvXWgnEIzcCDQm0zVlj-QCnYU/s6000/Still-3-from-OUT-OF-DARKNESS-Courtesy-Bleecker-Street.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-d2XOJIg_cWN2D1GiyHozCsfU3_CynIA3odKokoXG9VAy0T4lB88uoM_lGyd6nNFd0n13r6k3soZaMsK_xc5rAokI1sxIS7lL2oyPPJn9fYmMfxopXdaqhK752iLBNzZ7aYka8-ZyAPWymBRx0B_ykz35JskCBeEeoJVAvXWgnEIzcCDQm0zVlj-QCnYU/w400-h266/Still-3-from-OUT-OF-DARKNESS-Courtesy-Bleecker-Street.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br />
<br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #999999;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">
Ben Fordesman's gorgeous cinematography is the centerpiece.
This is a beautifully shot film that almost comes off like an anti
Malick. There are voice overs atop awe inducing scenery, but the
light is never given purchase against the darkness, and it is this malicious
intent that makes the film so memorable. One of the most striking visuals is
the way light is juxtaposed within the finale. One part of the sequence
is in blue light, simulating the uncertainty while the other is filmed via
firelight, allowing the two contrasting colors to present the discovery and
Beyah's crucible in an organic format, all set atop stunning violence.
The result is a harrowing film about survival and the notions of tribe and
family. </span></span></div><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">
<br />
The ending is certain to be divisive if not outright panned, however, in the
context of 77 minutes that come before it, it does make sense, evoking thoughts
of Refn's <i>Valhalla Rising</i>. Where Refn was concerned with the
purgatory of discovery, Cumming views the origins of humanity as being born
from the ingrained need to survive. The divine is forsaken in favor of
bone crunching, primality. <br />
<br />
Coming to theaters this Friday, <i>Out of Darkness</i> is a tense survival
horror experience with some interesting ideas dappled throughout. Fast,
brutal, and unforgiving, Cumming's debut shows a wealth of talent while also
showcasing a carefully conceived and lovingly constructed nightmare about not
only who we are as a species, but who we have always been. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"> </span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Verdana",sans-serif" style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><span>--Kyle Jonathan </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="color: #999999; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>Kyle Jonathan http://www.blogger.com/profile/13836235592101745522noreply@blogger.com