Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

THE BRIDE (2025) - Absolutely FANTASTIC reworking of Frankenstein's story!  Christian Bale is terrific as the Monster, and the story arc of The Bride is a delight to watch.  I don't give a lot of 5/5 scores, but this one really earned it.
SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

Another one I'm surprised you like. I'm not quite 5/5 on it, but it's worth a watch for sure.

[indianasmith]

My tastes are a bit more eclectic than my love of SUCKER PUNCH and NINJA BACHELOR PARTY might lead one to believe. . .

[Jim H]

I just rewatched The Killer, the Woo original.  It's as moving as ever, and man do I appreciate the action creation and stunt work even more now. 

I also watched The Mandalorian and Grogu.  It's...  Fine.

My tastes are a bit more eclectic than my love of SUCKER PUNCH and NINJA BACHELOR PARTY might lead one to believe. . .

That's a beautiful quote Indy, I hope you know that.

[Rev. Powell]

MATADOR BOLERO (2026): An actress' murder may be linked to a super-intelligent quantum AI computer. The plot here isn't rigorous (to say the least) in this experimental film that recreates the look and feel of a late 1960s LSD-inspired Super-8 avant-garde film (a la Andy Warhol) with lots of pretentious voiceovers, superimposed images, kaleidoscopic abstractions, altered voices singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and other successful and semi-successful experiments heaped together without structure. 1.5/5.

[M.10rda]

THE SPY IN BLACK (1939):
Another attempt at getting on the Powell/Pressburger train - another ho hum result. (PEEPING TOM remains the only Powell flick I can altogether endorse.) It does provide a rare opportunity to see Conrad Veidt in a top-billed lead role in a post-silent/talkie - and often in English, even. He still looks good and gives a reasonably nuanced performance (as the bad guy), though this isn't nearly on-par w/ his best silent work.

In a similar plot to EYE OF THE NEEDLE, Veidt is a German officer who infiltrates a foggy English port-town in order to sabotage the Royal Navy. I should mention that SPY IN BLACK is set during WWI, not WWII - but the Brits were in WWII sometime in '39, so SPY IN BLACK still seems tonally inappropriate to me, somehow. At first Veidt is aided by two other lead characters - who appear at first to be Germans or English traitors working for Germany. SPOILER: They aren't - the're just setting up a trap to catch Veidt. This doesn't really make much sense and still puts the Royal Navy (and English civvies) in danger. It also makes the co-leads pervasively unsympathetic. Veidt's character does get some sympathetic shading - but he's a terrorist Gerry!!!

3/5 for Veidt and professional filmmaking. Very confused film, though,

[FatFreddysCat]

"Operation Goldman" (aka "Lightning Bolt," 1966)
Enjoyably silly Spanish/Italian James Bond knock-off starring American bit player Anthony Eisley (of TV's "Perry Mason" and "Hawaiian Eye") as a secret agent assigned to investigate rocket sabotage around Cape Kennedy. One of the better 007 wanna-bee's of the era, does a nice job of copping the Bond vibe in spite of its cheese-and-crackers budget.

[lester1/2jr]

Never Hike Alone (2017) - Forgot to review this last Thursday then went away for a few days. It's a Friday The Thirteenth fan film and is best viewed as such. As an ostensible found footage horror movie it's not super strong. It goes back and forth between him filming and another camera in a way that was a little off putting but...okay I can hang with it. Really though, the director's heart is more in Friday the Thirteenth rather than FF horror. The parts that are like a modern slasher, with people repeatedly thinking it's over then turning around and seeing the thing and having to recalibrate or whatever, were better (though not really my thing).

3/5 as a tribute though, it's solid.