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The only bad note rang at the film's very conclusion - because it intimates that the ultimate goal for humanity is a mid-level office with a view of the city - really, the film makes out like Melanie Griffith's character has reached enlightenment by achieving this lofty goal.
It was the 80's. In America. That WAS the ultimate goal. Well, for a woman, anyway. For a man it was to own the company, but it's basically the same thing.
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Victim of The Night

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I Know What You Did Last Summer - (1997)

Now this is what I call average. This slasher was a huge hit in it's day - it helped cement Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar as stars and starts with a classic red herring turn by Johnny Galecki. As far as slashers go, you could find a mystery or two that are much, much worse. The only problem with this are the flat and unconvincing performances, and lack of really scary and horrifying deaths. In their fight for a non-too-restricting rating, I'm sure the makers went easier than they had to. Without those two crucial components, the film itself is only good for it's chases and satisfying puzzle - who knows what these kids did last summer?

6/10
Amen.
I watched this again like last year, thinking "I'll bet that movie is better than people think it is."
And I was wrong. It is the very definition of 90s mediocrity in every way. I think you're being kind with that 6, I couldn't go higher than 5.






The Devil Rides Out - This exemplary adaptation of Dennis Wheatley's 1934 novel is an erudite thriller despite it's rather lurid subject matter. Directed by Terence Fisher with a screenplay by Richard Matheson it stars Christopher Lee as Nicholas, Duc de Richleau, an aristocratic pathfinder of sorts with a hard earned knowledge of the occult. As the film opens he welcomes home his old friend Rex van Ryn (Leon Greene) in preparation for a reunion with the son of a fellow WWI pilot. The two men had made a vow to look after his son Simon Aron (Patrick Mower) and they're discomfited when the young man breaks off all contact with them.

When they track him down at his new estate they arrive in the midst of a private gathering of a purported astronomical society. They make the acquaintance of the enigmatic Tanith Carlisle (Nike Arrighi) but also the Machiavellian Mocata (Charles Gray) who seems to hold sway over both Simon and Tanith. The gathering and assembled partygoers immediately put the Duc de Richleau on heightened alert and a cursory search of Simon's observatory confirm's the Duc's worst fears. The so called astronomical society is actually a coven of Satanists with Mocata the high priest. With two crucial ceremonies for the coven rapidly approaching Nicholas and Rex race against time to liberate not only Simon but Tanith as well from the clutches of Mocata and the Satanists.

Wheatley himself was very pleased with this adapatation and Matheson's screenplay is careful to get all the occult terminology right. Lee turns in his usual stalwart and convincing performance and Richleau is arguably his best role and, as it turns out, his personal favorite. Charles Gray makes for a great villain as anyone who watched him in Diamonds Are Forever already knows. The rest of the cast perform ably but this is undoubtedly Lee's movie.

90/100



UPGRADE
(2018, Whannell)



"A fake world is a lot less painful than the real one."

Set in a near future where automation is taking over, Upgrade follows Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), an auto mechanic who still tries to cling to some level of control on his life. But when tragedy hits him and he ends up a quadraplegic, he undergoes an experimental procedure that implants a chip on his spine which gives him back control of his body, and then some. With his "upgraded" powers, he sets out to take revenge against those that brought the tragedy upon his life.

Marshall-Green does a great job of showing the different shades of Grey that go from pain and suffering to disbelief, and eventually confidence and cockiness. Betty Gabriel is good as the detective that's trying to help, but then stop him, and Benedict Hardie is pretty effective as the main bad guy. However, it is Grey who's at the center of the film through all its run, and he owns it. Special mention goes also to Simon Maiden, who voices STEM, the automated voice on Grey's chip that walks him through everything that's happening to him.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
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UPGRADE
(2018, Whannell)





Set in a near future where automation is taking over, Upgrade follows Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), an auto mechanic who still tries to cling to some level of control on his life. But when tragedy hits him and he ends up a quadraplegic, he undergoes an experimental procedure that implants a chip on his spine which gives him back control of his body, and then some. With his "upgraded" powers, he sets out to take revenge against those that brought the tragedy upon his life.

Marshall-Green does a great job of showing the different shades of Grey that go from pain and suffering to disbelief, and eventually confidence and cockiness. Betty Gabriel is good as the detective that's trying to help, but then stop him, and Benedict Hardie is pretty effective as the main bad guy. However, it is Grey who's at the center of the film through all its run, and he owns it. Special mention goes also to Simon Maiden, who voices STEM, the automated voice on Grey's chip that walks him through everything that's happening to him.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
Such a solid film. Between this and The Invitation, I'm surprised we haven't seen Marshall-Green in more lead roles.



Such a solid film. Between this and The Invitation, I'm surprised we haven't seen Marshall-Green in more lead roles.
Yeah, I was going to mention something along that line. He did have that small role in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but other than that, it seem he goes for these "under the radar" thrillers. He was also in the Shyamalan-penned Devil back in 2010, which seems to go hand-in-hand with these two, at least in terms of tone/vibe, if not in quality.





The Fault in Our Stars, 2014

Hazel (Shailene Woodley) is a young woman whose cancer has left her with decreased lung capacity, as an experimental treatment temporarily keeps the disease at bay. At a meeting for teens with cancer, Hazel meets Gus (Ansel Elgort) who is in remission from the cancer that robbed him of his leg. The two bond begin a romance, but Hazel's anxieties about what will happen when she dies--to Gus, to her parents, etc--threatens their happiness.

Okay, fine, darned if this one didn't win me over about halfway through.

I'm not sure whether or not the movie intends for us to find the characters, and especially Gus, kind of cringeworthy. But you know what? Teenagers are pretty cringeworthy, never mind teenagers who are dealing with some incredibly heavy life circumstances. It's not about whether I'd want to spend time with either of these people, but rather whether you can believe that they would be drawn toward each other.

A real turning point in the film, and where it started to really get me, was when Gus uses his Make-a-Wish to get a trip for him and Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author, Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) of a book that Hazel adores. When van Houten turns out to be a total jerk, his assistant (a charming Lotte Verbeek) takes Gus and Hazel on a tour of the city, including going to the Anne Frank house. Hazel struggles to climb the steep staircases of the house that's lined with quotes from another young woman who didn't get as much life as she should have.

It's a well-worn trope in romances that the person with the pessimistic outlook is brought back to the world. We've all had plenty of manic pixie dream girls waltz through our screens. Here at least we can say that the trope is gender swapped, with Gus being the (at times overbearing) ray of sunshine. But whoever the wacky one is, this isn't a trope that I love. But I did appreciate that the conversations between Gus and Hazel illuminated a theme that I did really like, which was Hazel coming to terms with what life is going to be like without her.

The movie doesn't just focus on Hazel being upset at being robbed of her later years. Instead it focuses on her grief over the uncertainty of what will happen to her loved ones. Hazel holds onto the weight of a memory from when she was younger and on the edge of death. Her mother (an excellent Laura Dern) exclaims in grief, "I'm not going to be a mother anymore!". This anxiety translates into an obsession with getting van Houten to tell her how he imagines the characters in his book would continue after the death of the main character.

I thought that the cast was really strong. I was happy to get a brief hit of Mike Birbiglia of the chipper and very religious leader of the support group. Ana Dela Cruz brings warmth and humor as Hazel's doctor, and likewise Sam Trammell as Hazel's father. (Quick sidenote: Trammell was in his mid-40s when he made this movie?! What?!?!?! We all need to learn this man's skincare routine, stat.)

I did think that the film takes a little bit to get gripping. I also had a slight quibble with the subplot about Gus's friend Isaac (Nat Wolff), whose girlfriend breaks up with him right before he is set to have surgery to remove both of his eyes. Obviously Isaac is very hurt by this. But I thought it was icky that the film gives absolutely none of the girlfriend's point of view. Let's be honest: being in a relationship with someone going through this kind of turmoil and physical change would be very stressful for a teenager (boy or girl). And what's she supposed to do: wait until after he has the surgery to dump him? I feel like there's no way for her to get out of that relationship without being guilt-tripped and treated like a monster. Then we're shown her house and car as if to imply that she's awful because she's rich? If she's so shallow, why was she dating this guy in the first place? While not a huge part of the film, this subplot left a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall I thought that this was a solid teen romance drama.




I forgot the opening line.

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The Fighter - (2010)

I usually like to lead with the best of the movies I'm mentioning and rating here - that was hard today. I'm also surprised that I'm handing that title to The Fighter. Before watching it I was beset with mixed feelings. "Ehh, I think I've seen this before, and it's one of those boxing movies - I'm rather sick of those." This film though, about family and their place in your life, really hit home and contained some performances that were up in the stratosphere. Based on a true story, it's about two half-brothers - Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund - and their trashier than average white trash family. Micky's doofus mother manages him, and his crackhead half-brother trains him, and as such he's continually being swindled, robbed, duped and stepped on. When girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams) comes along, he's persuaded to cut ties, which results in all-out war - the only problem being that with a new trainer and his brother in jail, Micky's actually doing well for once and has a shot at the title. His family though, will not give up so easily. The onus is on them to step up their game if they want to reconnect. This was nominated for 7 Oscars, with Bale and Melissa Leo (who plays the mother) walking away winners. I have no idea why I was reluctant to watch it - it was great.

8/10


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The Rose - (1979)

This was another that I wasn't overly eager to see - but really ended up being worth it. It's really about Janis Joplin, but had to be tweaked and otherwise labelled due to the filmmakers being refused the rights to her story. It doesn't really matter - The Rose takes up the mantle of all the rockers, blues singers, pop idols and celebrities that got caught up in the maelstrom of their own fame and found that they couldn't escape it. Mary Rose Foster (Bette Midler) parties hard and drinks a lot, but has been clean for a while - the problem is her workload has her burning out. She's exhausted and needs rest, but her manager/boyfriend/promoter relentlessly pushes her from gig to gig, screaming to her to honor the contracts she's signed. She flies into the arms of a new lover, and drives closer and closer to the edge - on the verge of breaking, and dying. The whole film is just a super one woman performance from beginning to end - carried by a kind of genuine manic air that Bette Midler (Oscar nominated) gives it. I was never a big Midler fan - but this film deserves it's due.

8/10


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Sicario: Day of the Soldado - (2018)

I don't know if anyone was really crying out for a sequel to Sicario, as good as that film was, but here we are - another Taylor Sheridan-penned thriller about American/Mexican border troubles and cartel action. I've nearly seen every one of his films now. This one introduces terrorism as something "new" that's being smuggled across the border, but quickly falls back on America's vast military might finding small, hopelessly outmatched targets and destroying the hell out of them. Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Donovan, and Raoul Trujillo come back from the first film, and although it lacks the original's complexity, it's still slick and well-made.

7/10


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The Plank - (1967)

I remember really enjoying The Plank once upon a time, but watching it now (especially after seeing Tommy Cooper literally die live on stage) leaves me pained and underwhelmed. At 45 minutes, it's a short film that really drags at times where the jokes aren't working - so my initial enthusiasm and laughter had me shifting uneasily with boredom after a while, and was topped off with a "fun with an unconscious woman" moment which made me distinctly uncomfortable. A beloved favourite that unfortunately wasn't a hit for me in 2022.

5/10
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Latest Review : Le Circle Rouge (1970)



Victim of The Night



The Devil Rides Out - This exemplary adaptation of Dennis Wheatley's 1934 novel is an erudite thriller despite it's rather lurid subject matter. Directed by Terence Fisher with a screenplay by Richard Matheson it stars Christopher Lee as Nicholas, Duc de Richleau, an aristocratic pathfinder of sorts with a hard earned knowledge of the occult. As the film opens he welcomes home his old friend Rex van Ryn (Leon Greene) in preparation for a reunion with the son of a fellow WWI pilot. The two men had made a vow to look after his son Simon Aron (Patrick Mower) and they're discomfited when the young man breaks off all contact with them.

When they track him down at his new estate they arrive in the midst of a private gathering of a purported astronomical society. They make the acquaintance of the enigmatic Tanith Carlisle (Nike Arrighi) but also the Machiavellian Mocata (Charles Gray) who seems to hold sway over both Simon and Tanith. The gathering and assembled partygoers immediately put the Duc de Richleau on heightened alert and a cursory search of Simon's observatory confirm's the Duc's worst fears. The so called astronomical society is actually a coven of Satanists with Mocata the high priest. With two crucial ceremonies for the coven rapidly approaching Nicholas and Rex race against time to liberate not only Simon but Tanith as well from the clutches of Mocata and the Satanists.

Wheatley himself was very pleased with this adapatation and Matheson's screenplay is careful to get all the occult terminology right. Lee turns in his usual stalwart and convincing performance and Richleau is arguably his best role and, as it turns out, his personal favorite. Charles Gray makes for a great villain as anyone who watched him in Diamonds Are Forever already knows. The rest of the cast perform ably but this is undoubtedly Lee's movie.

90/100
I enjoyed that movie, it was nice to see Lee as the sort of hero character.
And man I love Charles Gray. Obviously, I first encountered him in The Rocky Horror Picture Show where he's so game it really effects the whole film, but I enjoy him in everything he does, even as Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.



I enjoyed that movie, it was nice to see Lee as the sort of hero character.
And man I love Charles Gray. Obviously, I first encountered him in The Rocky Horror Picture Show where he's so game it really effects the whole film, but I enjoy him in everything he does, even as Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.
Well yeah, he was awesome as Blofield; I mean, why wouldn't you enjoy him in that role?






Wonderland (2003)

The story of p0rn superstar (and scumbag) John Holmes' involvement in the murders of worse scumbags (the Wonderland Gang) after robbing off an even bigger scumbag (Eddie Nash). The dated thing is done well but the film is too reliant on flashbacks/forwards to really keep the interest. It's an interesting story for sure but I think it would have profited from a more linear approach. Val Kilmer is very good in this.



I watched the new musical comedy Spirited today on Apple tv+. The film stars Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Ryan Reynolds as his latest assignment, a manipulative businessman who is considered unreedemable. I really liked the music in the film. The song and dance numbers elevate the film and for me are the best parts. I thought Ferrell did a decent job in his role, not his best performance, but not one of his worst. Ryan Reynolds performance didn't really work for me though. It felt like he was playing a version of a character he has played before and it wasn't completely convincing. Octavia Spencer does a nice job as one of Reynolds's conflicted employees and Sunita Mani gets some laughs as the horny ghost of Christmas Past. The story goes in some interesting directions and there are some twists along the way. I did feel that the film was too long though. It didn't need to be 2 hours and 7 minutes. There was a lot going on at times and it felt a bit messy. Still there were enough laughs and effective moments to make this worthwhile. If you like Christmas musicals, this is worth checking out. My rating is a



All I want to say is Sharlene Woodley is a beautiful young women who should never ever have short hair.
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The City of the Dead (Horror Hotel) - The second Christopher Lee/devil worship flick I DVR'd before Halloween. It's a rewatch but I remembered liking it's pared down story and B&W production values. Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and filmed in the UK but set in the US, with the majority of the cast required to speak with the requisite accents.

Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) is a student in history Professor Alan Driscoll's (Lee) class and is keen on making her term paper on local witchcraft as authentic as possible. Driscoll recommends she visit the nearby town of Whitewood where in 1692 a woman named Elizabeth Selwyn was burned at the stake. She bids farewell to her fiance Bill Maitland (Tom Naylor) and her brother Richard (Dennis Lotis), who is a firm skeptic when it comes to all things supernatural. Richard is also a teaching colleague of Driscoll's and his dismissive attitude towards Driscoll's interest in the occult is a source of friction between the two men.

Nan gets directions through the fog choked area from a country store attendant who warns her about staying away from Whitewood. This would be the first of an outrageous number of red flags that Nan encounters and then blithely ignores. So many warning flags that anyone watching can tick them off as they pop up. Her next misstep is picking up a courtly looking gentleman hitchhiker standing in the middle of the dense fog. He introduces himself as Jethrow Keane (Valentine Dyall) in a voice that sounds like it's emanating from the bottom of a deep grave.

The next uh-oh moment is the actual town and it's here where the limited budget really rears it head. But the filmmakers are adept at clever workarounds which not only camouflage the sparse set but actually make it work in their favor. Nan checks in at the sinister looking Ravens Inn where she meets the equally sinister Mrs. Newless (Patricia Jessel). And I just now realized that the spelling of her name also provides a clue as to her true identity.

Anyway, Nan keeps on stumbling heedlessly towards her fate despite serendipity and common sense yelling in her ear. Circumstances eventually require both her brother and fiance to come looking for her which of course sets up the big showdown between the nonbelievers and the dark practitioners. This might come off as a roast of the film but in spite of it all it does weave a convincing story with the resolution being both effective and somehow gratifying. It has enough atmosphere to fill a half dozen like minded movies with the gloomy and claustrophobic setting steadily working on you for it's entire runtime.

85/100



Victim of The Night
Well yeah, he was awesome as Blofield; I mean, why wouldn't you enjoy him in that role?



I've always been attached to Donald Pleasance's version.






La Bête Humaine - This 1938 crime drama is a fairly loose adaptation of an Emile Zola novel and directed by Jean Renoir. it stars Jean Gabin as Jacques Lantier, a train engineer who finds himself entangled with a married woman. Roubaud (Fernand Ledoux) is the stationmaster at Le Havre where Lantier's Paris route culminates. He's married to the beautiful and much younger Severine (Simone Simon). When he discovers that Severine had an affair with the well off Grandmorin (Jacques Berlioz) while in his employ his long simmering jealousy erupts.

Having always thought Grandmorin was just his wife's harmless godfather he decides to kill him and have his wife come along to forever bind them together. The only problem being that Lantier is onboard the train and sees both of them exit the dead man's compartment. He lies to the police and tells them he saw no one in the corridor and this in turn ends up binding the three of them together. But Lantier has his own dirty little secret and the three unintended co-conspirators find that there is no way off of this particular track.

The movie finds several ways of using trains as an analogy and it turns out to be a novel metaphor. Both Renoir and Gabin insisted on as much realism as possible and Gabin learned to operate and run a locomotive with the help of an actual crew. The scenes with Lantier at the controls of his train give the film a welcome jolt of authenticity. And the grubby trainyard setting is a fitting embodiment of the squalid circumstances the three protagonists find themselves in. There are no unblemished heroes here and no one comes out looking good in the end.

To be honest I had confused Jean Renoir with Jean Cocteau (maybe because of La belle et la bête) so this is the first of his films I've seen. But La règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) and La grande illusion (The Grand Illusion) look intriguing so I'll keep an eye out for those.

80/100