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Gone Girl (2014) -

Unlawful Entry (1992) -

Mudbound (2017) -

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) -




Despite Tony Curtis' dominate, yet two dimensional, performance, Lepke (1975) was sort of a bore. The problem with this movie is the script - the screenwriter basically took newspaper headlines from the 40s and developed a movie around that - yet, there was little to no mention of Murder, INC. in the movie. Obviously made to ride the wave of Godfather hype, Lepke certainly has its moments, but ultimately belongs to stay in obscurity. The poster is easily the best part of the movie.





Being a big Ellroy and L.A. Confidential (1997) fan, I really wanted to like The Black Dahlia when it came out back in 2006, but didn't. I thought to myself this past weekend: "Hey, it's over 10 years later. I've grown, I've matured, maybe older me will like it." Though it's a movie I can see myself revisiting from time to time, maybe oncee a decade or so, basically 30 year old me and 18 year old me shared the same opinion. I'm just starting the last in Ellroy's "LA Quartet" that I 've never read: White Jazz. After that I'm thinking about picking up The Black Dahlia graphic novel that came out a few years back.






Expected nothing from this movie, but really enjoyed it. It could have been ghastly, but Meryl Streep made it all believable. Hugh Grant acting very well in one of his best rôles. Simon Helberg, of whom I have never heard, very funny.



Not bad. Interesting screenplay. Overly long. Brenda Blethyn annoyingly over-emotive. After 2 hours she worked my every nerve. Didn’t recognize a young Phyllis Logan at first from Downton Abbey.
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Being a big Ellroy and L.A. Confidential (1997) fan, I really wanted to like The Black Dahlia when it came out back in 2006, but didn't. I thought to myself this past weekend: "Hey, it's over 10 years later. I've grown, I've matured, maybe older me will like it." Though it's a movie I can see myself revisiting from time to time, maybe oncee a decade or so...
I really wanted to see Black Dahlia (2006), but when I finally got around to watching it, I found it convoluted and not well done. The term, 'hot mess', comes to mind. I mean the film is everywhere without direction. At least in the first 15 minutes, because that's where I shut it off.

Have you seen The Blue Dahlia (1946)? it's much better.



Interesting poster because it's like Francisco Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son, especially the way the hands are on the flesh.






Not bad. Interesting screenplay. Overly long. Brenda Blethyn annoyingly over-emotive. After 2 hours she worked my every nerve. Didn’t recognize a young Phyllis Logan at first from Downton Abbey.
I've never been keen on Brenda Blethyn and this film never appealed to me. I do like many of Mike Leigh's other films though.



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I've never been keen on Brenda Blethyn and this film never appealed to me. I do like many of Mike Leigh's other films though.
I like Mike Leigh.. Naked, Nuts in May, Meantime, All or Nothing, Vera Drake... He has one coming out this year, "Peterloo"



I like Mike Leigh.. Naked, Nuts in May, Meantime, All or Nothing, Vera Drake... He has one coming out this year, "Peterloo"
Nuts in May's brilliant – "Well that doesn't seem very fair does it Keith?". Career Girls and Happy-Go-Lucky are my faves.



I really wanted to see Black Dahlia (2006), but when I finally got around to watching it, I found it convoluted and not well done. The term, 'hot mess', comes to mind. I mean the film is everywhere without direction. At least in the first 15 minutes, because that's where I shut it off.

Have you seen The Blue Dahlia (1946)? it's much better.
Oh yea, The Blue Dahlia is leaps and bounds better.



This might just do nobody any good.
I really wanted to see Black Dahlia (2006), but when I finally got around to watching it, I found it convoluted and not well done. The term, 'hot mess', comes to mind. I mean the film is everywhere without direction. At least in the first 15 minutes, because that's where I shut it off.
It’s so weird. It’s like no one involved was really interested in Elizabeth Short’s story.



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The Cat - 9/10

Best movie I have seen in months. Imagine Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf with more realism and poetry. I liked this more. And starring Jean Gabin..




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Nuts in May's brilliant – "Well that doesn't seem very fair does it Keith?". Career Girls and Happy-Go-Lucky are my faves.
I like them both, too, and want to see Happy-Go-Lucky for the fun of the character.

Nuts in May seemed very allegorical -- who makes the rules for living space, and whose rights are more worthy when they encroach. Even something like noise, which is a factor even out in the wilderness when people try to get away from everyone else.



It’s so weird. It’s like no one involved was really interested in Elizabeth Short’s story.
Most of the second half of the movie seemed to be about Josh Hartnett banging everybody.

EDIT: Also, was anyone else deeply confused at the casting decision, because Hilary Swank looks nothing like Mia Kirshner; and the whole plot evolves around these two characters looking enough like each other to be considered "twins."



A Simple Plan (1998) (Dir. Sam Raimi)



The opening shots of Hank in the mill bagging the grain are a romantic vision of the midwest that Raimi then spends two hours upending. These characters in this folksy rural town aren't just goodhearted people unto which Raimi can show the transformative power of greed. They're people trapped in the shadow of a myth that never was.

WARNING: spoilers below
Hank and Jacob are brothers who fondly recall life on the farm with their father as a time of innocence. We come to find that Hank didn't realize his father's death was a probable suicide so his family could receive the insurance money nor did he realize the dire financial straights of the family were in part due to how they paid for his college education. Now the farm is in ruin, and the promise of Hank's education hasn't led him anywhere. The distinctly American dream, the wholesome farm life, the promise of opportunity through education, the simple contentment of the countryside, it's all gone sour.

When Hank first divulges the discovery of the money to his wife Sarah, he does so with a hypothetical. Sarah says it'd be wrong to steal it while adding they don't need the money anyway. When the cash is presented, she immediately becomes calculative and forgets any moral opposition. The immediate transformation is common among the culprits, but later in the movie, under great duress at Hank's insistence on burning the money, her assessment of their need for money changes.

Sarah paints a picture of their life as monotony, letdown, and financial anxiety. Hank's working a menial job waiting on his boss to die. Sarah works an unfulfilling job and they barely scrape by together. They can't afford to disrupt the tediousness of their lives. Even the rare celebration dinner is marred by the necessary thrift of their existence. She dreads how these circumstances will affect her newborn daughter right down to how the hand-me-down clothes will make her feel about her worth.

Earlier in the film, Jacob also alludes to what the money means to him. Not only does he dream of reclaiming the family farm, something that was promised to him and never delivered, he desperately wants to be in love. He tells a heart wrenching story about a girl pretending to date him, all for a bet of a $100. He admits he's never even kissed a girl. He's revealed to be a miserably lonely soul who will accept the veneer of love, one allowed by his newfound wealth, just to experience the illusion of affection.

Raimi takes a conventional story about greed and betrayal, retains the accountability of the character's for their evil deeds, but ultimately indicts the broader economic and cultural circumstances of America and its dreams. The film closes with haunting shots of the withering family farm standing alone on the icy landscape. It's a monument to a bygone era and a testament to a myth that never was.
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The Breakfast Club (1985)




“Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?”






This may be the most influential Kung Fu movie ever. I can't believe how many elements of this one have made it into some of the most popular Kung Fu movies ever made (Karate Kid, Kill Bill, Hero, the list goes on). Fairly standard story (now) of good school vs bad school settling the score at a martial arts tournament. Good story, great choreography it's the whole package when it comes to 70's martial arts movies.


on a curve

Rewatch. A great, bad movie. Who cares about plot (there is one but it's pretty thin) when it comes to Dolemite. It may seem slow early on but stick with it and you'll be rewarded with one of the best rescue missions ever. If you enjoyed Black Dynamite I would recommend this to see where the inspiration came from. The last half hour of the movie - Dolemites ass kicking Kung Fu rescue - is a treasure. Everything you love about bad 70's movies in in here.