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Baby Driver (2017)
So cool
Unrealistic, at times preposterous, impossible car chases, whatever. Somehow, someway, this mostly all works. It's stylish as hell with a terrific cast led by Ansel Elgort in his finest role, a fact that may never change. Despite Elgort and the rest, this is Edgar Wright's movie. His direction of a gang of robbers, with a cool getaway man, is fantastic with great tunes choreographed to a large assortment of scenes and scenarios. The music alone is a good enough reason to watch this very fun and exciting movie. Kevin Spacey, who has given many fine performances, as though two Oscars indicate, somehow gives the weakest performance in this. He plays a slimeball of a human, something Spacey has played well elsewhere, but he fails here. He's just unlikable and uninteresting. Luckily, he's not the focal point here. Elgort, James and Wright are and it\'s highly unlikely they will not entertain you in this.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Despite all the talent involved, this is Osment's film.
Despite this still being the best film thus far from M. Night Shyamalan and perhaps Bruce Willis' best performance and one of the great child performances of all time from Haley Joel Osment, 25 years later this doesn't hold up as well as one would hope. It's still an entertaining film about a little boy who claims to see dead people and the doctor trying to help him with this psychosis, but there are so many scenes in the film that aren't terribly logical all due to the now famous twist ending. None of these illogical moments were terribly noticeable when seeing this initially as it is cleverly directed for a first time viewing. Toni Collette plays Osment's mother and she plays it well especially in a car scene near the end. And speaking of the end, the very final scene is ridiculously mushy. I don't know what I thought about it 25 years ago, but it's awful. This was a sensation in its day. It's still spooky and I still enjoyed it. It's cleverly directed for a first time viewing.
Glass (2019)
Shyamalan made one film too many with these characters
First there was the good Unbreakable, then the even better Split and now we get Glass to wrap up the characters from those films. Bruce Willis is back as is Samuel L. Jackson and James McAvoy joins the fray of the letdown of a movie. The performances are all the same as the first two films. Willis is Willis, Jackson is good as usual, but once again this is McAvoy's show. He repeats his chameleon like performance that he gave in Split. Unfortunately, joining this group is a new character, a psychiatrist poorly played by usually potent Sarah Paulson, but to give her some credit, it's an awful role. The boys have all been rounded up in a mental institution and she is there to prove to these three men that they do not have super powers, a pointless plot direction since we all know they do. Not really terrible, but it is disappointing.
Split (2016)
A director who is so often off his game is back on here
After M. Night Shyamalan had the triple commercial along with varying critical success of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, he would gone on to make a series of really poor films for the next 14 years and then along came this which suddenly at one point ties in with one of those previous successes and this is one tense film thanks primarily to one of the craziest roles an actor has ever had. The very talented James McAvoy provides one of the most intense portraits of insanity ever put on film. He is simply fantastic here playing a man with 24 different personalities and one of them is very, very dangerous. It is this later personality that performance overlaps with some special effects, I think, as we see physical changes right before our eyes. There are a number of victims in this and one, Anya Taylor Joy, has since gone on to become a star in her own right, odd as she is. This is a very suspenseful film that has it's silly flaws like most horror films do, but they are minor compared to much of the rest. Veteran Betty Buckley has a prominent role and strangely it is her character who makes the least sense to me some of the time. Shyamalan has made a few films since this, some good, some lesser, but I gather by this point that is the way he rolls. Off and on.
Unbreakable (2000)
Very original in 2000. Still a good watch.
Twenty four years later, this doesn't seem so original anymore, but it's still a fun flick. This off-kilter take on comic book heroes and villains stars Bruce Willis as a man who cannot be hurt, has amazing strength and has never been sick a day in his life. The fact that this is just occurring to him in middle age was the hardest thing to swallow in this film. When we meet him, he is quickly the sole survivor of a terrible train crash. The fact that not only is he the only survivor, he doesn't have as much as a scratch on him draws the attention of another man who is his polar opposite. His body can be shattered like glass. Willis is Willis here. Samuel L. Jackson, nearly always entertaining, plays the other man. Robin Wright is touching in a small role and Spencer Treat Clark is another who is interesting. This was M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to The Sixth Sense and while it's not in that league, it's not bad,
Barbarella (1968)
Bad, but it has it's admirers?!
By1968 Jane Fonda had already proved herself adept at comedy with Barefoot In the Park the prime example. She was on her way to be taken seriously, and would in a major way a year later in the revelatory They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, but in the meantime she was married to Roger Vadim, a man who had more negative effects on her film career than anyone else and this is the most famous mistake, though there were a few more thankfully less well known. Just about everything about this is absurd and pretty boring. The effects and sets are cheap and silly, perhaps intentional. Despite Fonda playing a sex kitten role with lots of, um, peculiar sex, she plays her entire role as an ingenue. I assume she was told to perform this way in this ridiculous space "adventure", but whatever was the intent or purpose of this is the biggest mistake in Fonda's mostly brilliant acting career, though every now and then, briefly, her comedy timing shows up. The closest thing I've seen to this is Sam J. Jones's equally embarrassing Flash Gordon.
Frágiles (2005)
Has its moments, but logic is not among its strong points
A haunted house story, or in this case, a haunted hospital story. Its full of typical spooky atmosphere and some of it works, some of it doesn't and some of it is just plain dumb. The fact that a rather unstable nurse is hired to oversee the night ward of a closing children's hospital is a little hard to swallow as is the behavior of a few of the characters especially the head nurse who has for decades ignored the strange goings on in this place and a doctor who out of nowhere suddenly seems to be falling for this rather grim and glum nurse who he hardly knows. But I had a feeling from the very opening that this film would have problems when the first scene after watching a meaningless montage of images over the opening credits immediately has a subtitle saying Two Weeks Later. Two weeks from what? Two weeks after what? What are you talking about? Many films have starts similar to this stating that a scene is 3 months earlier or five years later or whatever, but these sudden shifts in time are usually after we have seen something prior so that we have some reference point as to what came before or after this time jump. Not here. It just starts off two weeks after something and we are never told what it is. While I do love a good ghost story and this is far better than many, it has too many annoying things going for it. Yasmin Murphy, as the primary child character in this, gives a very uninteresting and dull performance which does not help.
Blindness (2008)
Not without interest, but ultimately unpleasant
I'm surprised to read here that the author of the acclaimed book this film is based on approved of it. I've not read it, but based on the comments here and other places, I haven't noticed many saying this is better or even as good as the novel. As a novice to this material, I have to say it's a fascinating idea and it starts off just fine. We never know where we are or the names of any character in the entire movie and that works just fine, but ultimately it becomes an ugly, harsh, and I must say not terribly original look at humanity under extreme stress. So many films about the unraveling of our society show mankind slowly reduced to its worst instincts regardless if it's an intriguing idea such as this or a typical apocalyptic film. It has a good cast, but no one really excels. Julianne Moore is incapable of giving a bad performance, but she is less interesting here than in anything I can think of. Ditto Mark Ruffalo. The cinematography is unusual and different and mostly works well. To me, the film gets lost in sending any kind of new or insightful message. It ends with a scene that I immediately interpreted incorrectly. Or I think I did?!
The Fall Guy (2024)
A rom-com without over the top action
I was really excited when I first heard about this and like much of the world I was shocked when it failed at the box office especially when Ryan Gosling was as popular as he has ever been. I don't know how audiences knew in advance, but most of this is a mess. The convoluted plot involves love, murder, stunts galore, bad guys, good guys trying to kill each other for idiotic reasons, making movies with so much nonsensical moments I couldn't possibly list them all. Ryan Gosling is a very charming and talented actor and he is the best thing about this, but even he doesn't have enough charisma for this. The leading lady is played by the talented Emily Blunt and she comes across with less effectiveness than he does. And Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a talented guy is very miscast here. There's some entertainment and the production is of course fine, but appropriately the highlight of the film is the stunt work and this is the perfect film to prompt the Oscars to have a category for these brave and talented men. They are good even in disappointing movies.
Sous la Seine (2024)
It gets worse as it rolls along
I watched this simply for something to do and I had read that it was a big hit in many countries. Maybe, I guess, but I'd never heard of it. This idiotic tale of various shark attacks takes some of the plot from Jaws and a LOT of technical aspects of Deep Blue Sea, which seems a near masterpiece compared to this. The actress from The Artist, Bérénice Bejo, has the lead here as an expert on sharks who is recruited when a giant shark is found to be living in the Seine in Paris. The Seine is not terribly deep, so this seemed impossible, and it is, but this is a bad movie, so logic does not count and that one shark is just the tip of what is yet to come. This also happens to be the setting for that year's World Triathlon Championships and the Mayor will not listen or cancel any of the events leading, of course to tragic events. Sound familiar? I was sorta watching this for about 10 minutes before I realized that it was dubbed which always takes away from actors' performances, so no way to really assess who is good and who is not, but my guess is it's mostly the latter. I will say this though. It's one of the best dubbing jobs I've come across. That's not really a reason to watch, but then, there is really very little reason to watch this anyway. The underwater scenes are pretty well done and the cinematography isn't bad either, but some of the special effects are cheesy.
The Ward (2010)
A total waste of your time
John Carpenter has never been confused with Kubrick or Spielberg, but he's a far better creator of films than this basically stupid, embarrassing mess about a woman locked away in a mental asylum indicates. There's very little logic, very little originality ("Identity", anyone?!) with very little talent on display in nearly every aspect. We don't even get one of his very simplistic, but somehow effective music scores. Amber Heard, in the lead, gives an average woman in peril performance and none of the others are any better, but what is worse are some of caricatures of mental ward personnel. It's only 89 minutes long including beginning and end credits, but it feels much longer.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Somehow audiences are still finding the defeat of humanity entertaining?!
I saw the first 5 in this series when young which are now all antiques, but even then they just got worse and sillier as they went along and that was that, other than an idiotic TV series, for a while until Tim Burton decided to remake the original and somehow made a very uncreative movie. The next trio was much better though I only saw the first two, Rise and Dawn. While I've seen them all but one, I've never really been a big fan of the any of them. This one, Kingdom, is just a variation on the same and if you are into this stuff you will probably enjoy it. Owen Teague is now the lead and he does this kind of thing quite well as does Peter Macon so much so that I was disappointed when he exited this film. At the center of this, sorry, silliness, is a human who somehow always finds very form fitting rags of clothing and her makeup is pretty attractive as well adding to the silliness. Nevertheless, there are a number of exciting scenes in this way overlong film which exhibits a lot of fake images with movie magic and a few of them look fake, but the majority is okay. Somehow this idea of apes taking over the world is a popular theme given the 10 films since this all began. Not sure why, but you can bet your bottom that there will be an 11th. Not sure what it will be about, but does it matter?! They are simply war films with a twist. Enjoy.
The Children (2008)
Interesting premise poorly executed
If waiting for something to happen is your idea of suspense, have I got a movie for you! This movie is 84 minutes long including opening and closing credits and it is 30 minutes into it before anything happens other than a sled grazing someone's leg. I do have to say though that the last fortysome minutes offer quite a bit of suspense, though very little logic, about a gathering of two couples and their four very young children. It does present a situation that is truly a horror for the adults as what does a parent do when their children, for no apparent rhyme or reason, suddenly turn into deadly killers? Well, the first thing they do about poor little Leah, Nicky and whatever the other's two names were, is go into denial and that of course is their fatal error. But that is most likely how it would play out if something this preposterous were to really happen. Wouldn't it take you some time to fully grasp that your sweet little 5 year old was very suddenly out to cause you and others great harm? The fact that we never learn why these normal children suddenly turn into monsters is rather annoying. There is some vague mention of them being sick, but what does that mean? The second half helps some.
Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)
Jeepers Creepers, this is pretty good!
Many may think I'm not playing with a full deck, but I thought this not only to be a very scary horror movie, but I thought it was really decent filmmaking from beginning to end. The opening scenes are very effective, but then, most scenes in this are. It is scary, it is fun, and it is very well directed with a mostly likeable cast, young and older. Considering that most of this takes place on a bus, this is an amazingly suspenseful film. A sequel to the entertaining Jeepers Creepers, this is might even better. Never a boring minute and thrills from beginning to end, this horror film is extremely underrated in my opinion. Victor Salva is a master at this kind of stuff, Wise is quite fun and all the pretty young people are not bad to watch either and some of them even give halfway decent performances as well. Intentional or not, this seems to have some sort of homosexual feel to it as all of the chosen victims of the "monster" are cute young boys. Maybe that's true, maybe it's not, but in any case, this is a superior horror movie.
Jeepers Creepers (2001)
I'm not sure it's supposed to be or not, but this is fun!
Putting aside the not terribly good title, this is a most effective horror movie with an urban legend kind of plot. Very natural and realistic performances by the two leads, Justin Long & Gina Philips, help a lot, and the director knows what he is doing. They portray a brother and sister who are on a long drive home at the wrong time. Long is a very likeable fellow to watch and has done a lot of things since this, but I've never liked him better than here. Many very frightening scenes and some are quite cringe worthy. This may sound odd considering the gore involved, but this is a fun movie to watch. However, if you get weak in the knees at horror films, maybe not. Quite a bit above average.
Signs (2002)
A simple and mostly very good alien invasion movie
I think this is the second best film that M. Night Shyamalan has made to date (2024). It's one of his very simplest narratives without any kind of "twist" that has so often muddled things up in his films. It is also filled with a lot of terrific humor.
That I like this as much as I do is sort of an oddity for me. I do love sci-fi, but I've little interest in faith based movies and this is mighty close to one. However, the sci-fi elements are the standouts here for me in a film that looks at an alien invasion through a small lens and even the religious aspects serve a purpose.
The other oddity here for me is that I don't care for Mel Gibson in most things. I don't think he is generally all that good an actor, but I do like him in this. I actually think it's one of his finest performances. Everyone else is equally good. A young Joaquin Phoenix is a delight as is Rory Culkin and Cherry Jones in a small role shows yet again just how ignored this wonderful actress has been in the film industry. The cinematography is fine, the direction right on and the score is exciting. Despite the religious aspect, I really enjoyed this.
F. est un salaud (1998)
Sick, sad love story
I wonder what I would have thought of this 26 year old Swiss film had I seen it when it was first released?! I know that I had never heard of it. I also know that I don't think it is all that good, but I've a feeling I would have appreciated it more in 1998 when we were more accustomed to all films about gay men leading to tragedy and pain. It's not that it's terrible, but it's kind of pointless and very depressing. The somewhat unbelievable story of a very young man's love for an older rock singer who is also a drug addict who initially displays love and kindness, but who eventually and predictively becomes cruel, unkind and selfish as his career and life go in a downward cycle as the drugs become a larger and larger part of his life with a failing career and a very bleak outlook on life. I know young love can be irrationally strong and blind, but eventually this teenager's (he seems that young) made to humiliate himself for the singer's pleasure, prostitute himself for money and the singer's drugs with even worse consequences to come and I just didn't buy a bond that strong given the abuse we see. However, I suppose such sick relationships do exist, but I don't want to see them. The bastard and singer, Fogi, is played quite well by Frédéric Andrau. It's sometimes ugly, but his performance is pretty on target and his music is not bad either. The young man who will do anything for this loser is played by Vincent Branchet and he is decent enough, but you just want to slap the character he is portraying. There are a lot of films about gay men from many countries around the world. This is not one I would recommend.
Beau Is Afraid (2023)
If Terry Gilliam had a nightmare & they filmed it....
How to write about this?! Lol. Before seeing this I think I liked Ari Aster better as a producer than a director as I liked Dream Scenario and disliked Hereditary (though I liked it a bit more on a second viewing). I almost stopped viewing this after the first half hour it had me so anxiety ridden. After that it goes off into so many directions that I was just left with curiosity, a lot of admiration for it's technical aspects, some awe, and what has by now become a commonplace appreciation for the skills of Joaquin Phoenix. The plot is a man trying to get home to his mother and the difficulties involved, but it's much more than that. It is a nightmare and I mean that most sincerely. I don't know how else you would describe this man's world. It has a large cast of well known actors in an assortment of bizarre roles and they are all into this, thus they are all good. Bravo to Aster for his highly original vision and ideas, whatever they are.
The Jessica Cabin (2022)
So minor, it nearly doesn't esist
This itty-bitty little 73 minute very low budget film is different, I'll give it that. It's not really the same or contain the same kind of significance, but the closest thing I've seen to it in recent years would be A Ghost Story. That's a bit of a stretch since much of this is comedy, or meant to be even though it is categorized here as horror, and the four primary characters are all gay. Two gay ghosts trapped in the cabin they died in is a rental, so eventually there will be more guests, and there are over an undisclosed period of time, but eventually one good looking gay one arrives with his horrid boyfriend, one ghost falls for the looker, so they find a way to rid of the boyfriend and they kill the good looking one so he can't go anywhere. Presumably. A bit of it is humorous, the acting is okay at best and the idea is a curious one as is the ending. I expected this to be better.
Parallel (2024)
The movie is awful, but the house is fabulous!
I review a lot of films, but some I skip as they are just not interesting enough, but I thought I'd give this bad boy a shot. This is a really bad, incomprehensible horror film. I guess it's a horror film though I suppose time traveling would be more a more accurate description, but perhaps being in the wrong place at the same time is more accurate, though I am not sure that sentence makes any sense, but then neither does the movie. I don't know. It's a mess and nothing is more spectacularly bad the the female lead's instant acceptance to the strangeness she facing. A hodgepodge of people wandering in and out of the woods in different dimensions or universes or something. The cast is good, but the writing is something that no performer could overcome. There are only three actors in this, Danielle Deadwyler, Aldis Hodge & Edwin Hodge and they try hard, but their efforts are in vain. Good cinematography and for what it's worth, I've seen worse.
Pearl (2022)
Even if you don't like horror, see this for Goth!
I did not like X, so it took me a while to get around to this. Much to my surprise, it's pretty good. It's classified as a horror film and it sorta is, but it is mostly a study of a young woman going mad around the year 1918. There's not really much of a plot other that the lead character living on a remote farm wants more out of life and that life involves a desire for professional dancing. She has a stern and severe mother who does not approve and an extremely handicapped father, so life on the farm is not so swell. Dad seems like a major stoke victim, but it is never named. As I said, it's surprisingly pretty good, never boring, well photographed and directed, but above all Mia Goth in the lead gives some sort of awesome performance. Even in X I admired her, but here she shows some remarkable abilities and is a versatile talent that I cannot imagine not having a big future. This ain't bad.
Unfrosted (2024)
The Truth: I have never in my life eaten one of these, the most unappetizing looking things I've ever seen. in the food market
There are some laughs here. How could there not be with this voluminous famous cast?! However, they are few and far between. The rest is an awful lot of silliness about Kellogg and Post cereal at war over the creation of the Pop-Tart in the 60's. I'm sure there is a basis of truth about this competition to get similar products out, but they most assuredly were not bombarded with news people with extensive television coverage. As I said this has a few laughs, is very silly and gets even way beyond any of that with the accidental creation of some sort of living Pop-Tart kind of thing. Don't ask, but trust me. It's not funny. This was directed and co-written by Jerry Seinfeld and since I have nothing nice to say about his direction, writing or even acting, I shall digress. There are so many actors here that one could comment on, I just will say the one I found most amusing was Hugh Grant, though there are some quick and short funny bits from an assortment of established performers. If you like your comedy silly with preposterous plotlines, this one is for you.
The Last Stop in Yuma County (2023)
Greed is not so good
This is one of those short, tight throwbacks to the Grade B era that work so well sometimes when done right and for the most part this is. The era this takes place in is a bit tricky. The lead actor (Jim Cummings) seems straight out of the 1950's or 60's, but there is a key car in this that is a Pinto, so we must (might) be in the 70's. Cummings plays a traveling knife salesman, something else that seems more pre-70's to me (can you imagine nowadays allowing someone to come into your home with a box of knives?! Lol), who runs out of gas and stops at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere only to learn that the fuel truck has been delayed, so he has to wait it out in the diner, but we viewers know that the truck isn't coming, though it plays a part later on. As time passes, more people stop and stay for the same reason. Two of them have just robbed a bank. The waitress happens to be married to the local sheriff and it seems nearly everyone in the place has a weapon of sort on them or access to one. Mayhem ensues. This is a fun, nasty little movie in which few survive. For the most part the cast is very good, though I found the character of the deputy, played by Connor Paolo, to be a bit unrealistic (what is he, 16?) and annoying. Cummings makes an excellent Mister Nice Guy type and Richard Brake is very believable as an awful human being. There are also some fine usage of some famous older tunes used throughout this, especially the last one. This is the first feature film by Francis Galluppi. I would think he has a future in this biz.
The Idea of You (2024)
It's okay, but it's not much fun
Slightly unusual rom-com that ultimately is no better than average. It's a bit unusual simply due to the sixteen year age gap between the two leads and the woman is the older one. Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine are the principles here. She needs no introduction and is good in this and he is proving to be quite the charmer in drama or comedy playing straight or gay. His future seems big. He plays a member of a boy band who in a preposterous meet cute scenario meets her and his fascination with her is improbably quick. Due to both his fame and their age differences, they have their ups and downs and so forth. Their is a plot development that requires a five year gap that is as unbelievable as anything I've ever seen in a rom-com. I expected a different ending, though I am not sure why I did. Rom-coms are rarely based on reality. Galitzine does okay with the musical numbers which are certainly not great, but they're a lot better than I expected..
1917 (2019)
A flat out, hands down filmmaking masterpiece
I've long wanted to see this film again and it is as magnificent as I remembered it to be. The story itself is pretty simple. Two young soldiers need to get an urgent message on foot while running through enemy war lines. While this film is a supremely suspenseful drama, the extraordinary thing about this film is the way it is filmed. Similar in style to Birdman (filmed to look like it all takes place in one continuous shot), the difference here is that Birdman was in a confined setting and this is a sprawling epic and the results are mesmerizing with some of the most outstanding cinematography I've ever seen. With my apologies to the excellent Parasite, this was the best made film in 2019. The two young soldiers are played by George MacKay & Dean-Charles Chapman and while they are both excellent, MacKay has the larger role (the camera barely leaves him from start to finish) and this is quite a triumph for this exciting young actor who has a long resume already beginning when he was 11 years old. There are a ton of other actors, some famous, in a film this large in scope and all ring true. I didn't know who Andrew Scott was when I first saw this in 2019, but his talent is very evident here and his future has turned out to be large. While everything about this film is excellent in every aspect, the majority of the praise must go to the director, Sam Mendes. Mendes has made a number of outstanding films including the Oscar winning American Beauty, but as of 2024 this is his ultimate masterpiece. You will discover yourself to be holding your breath at certain points in this film.