Recent Viewings, Part 2

[indianasmith]

MR. SLEEP (2024) - I caught this on Prime the other night and was sucked into it rather quickly.  Fairly low budget and a bit of a slow burn, but some excellent acting and a villain who was somewhat intriguing.  The movie felt like a sequel, in some ways - the notorious murderer "Mr. Sleep" was finally caught and executed by lethal injection, only to return from the dead (rising from the morgue slab like Michael Meyers in HALLOWEEN 2), and goes on a rampage against the patients of the doctor who interviewed him on death row.  The final girl was actually pretty tough and the killer got a nice comeuppance from her.  Overall, 3.5, maybe 4 out of 5.

[M.10rda]

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS (1994):
When Texas police discover a series of severed hands belonging to unidentified prepubescent victims what's an old-fashioned chief detective like Martin Sheen to do but phone the FBI and ask them to send one of those newfangled criminal profilers??? Enter FBI Investigator Audrey McLare (Ally Walker), a twitchy antisocial chain-smoking claustrophobe w/ huge scars on her back. That elaborate description tells you as much as you'll ever learn from this film about Audrey as it marches through a lot of expected serial killer thriller plot beats as well as more surprising digressions into paranormal mystery and mad science flick (HANDS OF ORLAC, of all things!).

In spite of spooky ambience and several giallo-like flourishes, WTBB is a STV release from '94 that looks a bit like a TV movie circa 1989. Some of the references to dates in the movie don't add up to '94 either so it's possible this sat on the shelves for a couple years after getting frog-marched through production immediately after the huge success of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. "Audrey McLare" dresses and behaves a lot like "Clarice Starling" and spends most of the running time in the basement of a mental asylum trying to get information out of (not Hannibal Lecter alas but instead) a mute adolescent boy played (confusingly but intentionally) by Tara Subkoff. That character is often quite irritating, but that seems to be by design, and once I accepted that I found some things to appreciate about the work of Subkoff, who went on to build a respectable career for herself in a series of 90s indie flicks. Walker was another actress who I'd liked in several supporting roles in the 90s (before she disappeared for a long while) and though she puts her back into WTBB, it's thankless work having to act like an even more brittle, emotionally repressed Jodie Foster. I spent most of this film wishing Walker had better material for her (one and only?) feature film starring vehicle.

All that said, there's one thing about WTBB I really admired, and I note it here particularly for fans of LONGLEGS. I could probably fill a page in a composition notebook listing all the plot points in WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS that remain mysterious, unclear, or even confusing by the time the credits roll. However, I sincerely commend WTBB's filmmakers for being stalwart in their commitment to explicitly explaining none of those plot points! This is in stark contrast to my primary criticism of LONGLEGS - that it falls over itself in the final stretch to provide a lot of exposition that no one really needed. Hey, we've all seen several (dozen?) SE7EN-ish s/killer thrillers - skip the pomp and circumstance - we're just here for the nailbiting climactic confrontations in an underlit basement, kthx! The folks behind WTBB understood this reality and kept everything lean, instead of straining to rationalize s**t that was never likely to make sense anyway, and for that I salute them!

3/5

When third-billed Ron Perlman doesn't appear after more than an hour in, well, you know what that probably means. He must've enjoyed working w/ Walker during his brief sequence however as she resurfaced in one of the later seasons of SONS OF ANARCHY.

[Rev. Powell]

BLACK GOD, WHITE DEVIL (1964): An impoverished Brazilian worker kills his boss and then runs off with his wife to join two bandit clans: the first led by a self-proclaimed saint, the second by a madman. This expressionistic epic is littered with crosses, but God is nowhere to be found. Anticipates the Spaghetti Western, but in an art-house style. Slow-moving but eventually draws you in. 3.5/5.

[lester1/2jr]

The Lost Boys (1987) - I'd been avoiding this for 30+ years because the boys themselves always looked silly to me. I think lions look silly too, so what do I know? As a drama/ action thriller it comes up a little short in places, but the comedy relief makes up for it. The Lost Boys are "creatures of the night" and look like a post Guns n Roses European hair metal band trying on a tougher, all black leather persona. The movie itself seems to have lived on in goth circles more than metal or punk ones (edit: here's an article at a heavy metal site about the movie's goth legacy https://www.kerrang.com/how-the-lost-boys-brought-goth-out-of-the-shadows so there's the aesthetic in a nutshell)

Kiefer Sutherland is the leader and does the whole "Welcome to my lair" routine with a long black coat in an underground hideout. If you like vampire movies where the infected person is fighting the "becoming a vampire"-ness via sheer will power you will LOVE this.

4.5/5

watched in one night but did have to pause a bit here and there. have to respect it's classic status which it does rightfully earn, though.

[Neville]

Saw "Alien: Romulus" yesterday. Not a detractor, just not an enthusiast. While I think "Romulus" is solidly built and very entertaining, it just doesn't impress me in the wat "Prometheus" and "Covenant" -despite their faults- did. It's a back to basics, remixed space horror movie, pretty much what "Jurassic World" was to "Jurassic Park".

[FatFreddysCat]

"UHF" (1989)
A out of work slacker ("Weird" Al Yankovic) lands his dream job as the manager of Channel 62, a low-watt local TV station with barely any viewers. Thanks to his unconventional new program ideas like "Wheel of Fish" and "Conan the Librarian," the station suddenly becomes a ratings sensation, which draws the attention of their cross town rivals at the big-network affiliate.
This very silly, entertaining slapstick comedy has a great cast that also includes Fran "The Nanny" Drescher, a pre-Seinfeld Michael "Kramer" Richards, and Kevin "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" McCarthy. "UHF" was a box office bomb but it's developed a well deserved cult following over the years.

[lester1/2jr]

Interior (2014) - I don't know why it was called Interior, it's a pretty boring title, but count me as a fan.

The first half is just a really nondescript Fount Footage set up, but when it gets rolling these guys show you what's up and why you should watch it: they are really good at finding the scary point of the story, staying there, and getting deeper into it, mainly by having a main character who believes in, and is is fearless in confronting, the supernatural. How's that for a run on sentence?

The special effects stink. It's another movie with a guy with a lot of state of the art camera gear and a youtube channel, but it works. I was scared. Clearly someone involved has experienced real terror in this world.

4.75 /5

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Cassandra Crossing" (1976)
This cheese-tastic flick combines the two most popular film genres of the '70s: the political thriller and the disaster movie. A terrorist becomes infected with a highly contagious plague during a laboratory robbery gone wrong, and stows away on a trans-European passenger train to avoid arrest. As the train's passengers begin to show symptoms of the same disease, the military Powers that Be must decide whether to stop the train and try to save the innocent victims, or simply destroy the train altogether to save the world from a possible epidemic.
This over-long but entertainingly silly adventure features an all-star international cast that includes Sophia Loren, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Ray Lovelock, a young Martin Sheen and even O.J. Simpson!

[lester1/2jr]

I've been thinking* of doing an OJ filmography on here. He was in Capricorn One and some other one I once saw.


*for like 22 years

[M.10rda]

PUNISHMENT PARK (1971):
Since we've been discussing documentaries (including ones which blur the distinct lines between verite and fiction) in another thread, here's a monolithic entry in the fake doc genre from Peter Watkins, possibly the King of the serious fake "doc" genre. (Using the term "mockumentary" to describe a Watkins film seems entirely inappropriate, as his movies are bleak as hell.) I don't often come across discussions of PUNISHMENT PARK, which I find odd as it seems to represent a seminal work for two subgenres: imperial bloodsport sci-fi (TURKEY SHOOT / BATTLE ROYALE / THE HUNGER GAMES) and journey-into-hell found footage horror (BLAIR WITCH / countless others). CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST is frequently cited as the fundamental pillar of that latter subgenre, yet PUNISHMENT PARK hits most of the same notes only 8 years earlier. There's no animal cruelty but hooo boy, the human-on-human cruelty (though mostly discreet) is plentiful, and PUNISHMENT PARK left me as cold and hopeless as any Italian cannibal movie.

An international TV crew films two coinciding events in a Californian desert. The first is a military tribunal where young black and white Americans are being hastily tried for subversion. (A couple of them are actually organizers but mostly they're in trouble for dodging the draft or just exercising their right to free expression.) Most of them attempt to present a reasonable defense at first before getting frustrated at the arbitrary and antipathetic jury - late 60s versions of Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene who sneer, act aghast at such unAmerican behavior, heckle the defendants, and often fall back on having them bound and/or gagged. If the defendants are found guilty (which is a foregone conclusion), they can accept a sentence of decades in a penitentiary or three days in the eponymous penal wasteland.

Simultaneously in said wasteland, a dozen fresh convicts are attempting to cross 52 (!) miles of desert in 72 hours w/ no food or water in 100-degree-plus temperatures. They're assured by a sunglasses-wearing deputy that they will be released and all charges will be dropped if they make it to the finish line without breaking any rules. Of course, the mob of armed police and national guardsman who monitor them can make or change the rules at will...

It occurs to me that the only other feature-length Watkins I'd seen was THE WAR GAME, which - though effective - is like a tea party next to PUNISHMENT PARK. He blends the eloquence of Arthur Miller w/ the brutality of George Miller's early outback nightmares. Like 1962's THE INTRUDER (which I recently reviewed), the dialogue in PUNISHMENT PARK sounds like it could've been written (or perhaps semi-improvised, in this case) not 53 years ago but last week. I got seriously worked up watching this and wanted to go punch some cops or congresspeople.

As an essentially peaceful and more or less law-abiding guy, however, I then considered a number of people I know who might benefit from watching this cautionary tale. Upon reflection, though, it occurred to me that none of them would be moved by PUNISHMENT PARK. Also like THE INTRUDER but likely for different auteurial reasons, PUNISHMENT PARK functions less like anti-fascist propaganda and more like a Rorschach test. Viewers are likely to see in this film what they're already inclined to see: maybe an alarm call against nationalism, the police state, and the rapid erosion of civil rights; or maybe just a darn good idea that is long overdue, by gum! Actually I guess it's possible that Joe Arpaio might've caught PUNISHMENT PARK when he was a wee young sheriff and got some ideas...

If you understand that fascism is in fact something to be opposed, however:
4.5/5

Most of the acting is convincing and some of it is exceptional. The instantly recognizable Carmen Argenziano gives a very good performance in a large role and is the only cast member who went on to a long career of supporting roles in big movies and TV shows (including in GODFATHER II!). The best work though is by Kent Foreman and Mary Ellen Kleinhall, both of whom are incredible and neither of whom appear to have done another movie after this one. I hope they both had long and fulfilling lives and stayed out of trouble - or at least escaped punishment for any good trouble they got into!

[lester1/2jr]

My friend showed Punishment Park at his collegs libertarian meet up group. People asked if they could watch V for Vendetta instead, but I liked PP

[M.10rda]

JACKPOT (2024):
In the mildly dystopian (sub-topian?) L.A. of 2030, anyone can claim a lottery prize, as long as they pry it from the literal dead  hands of the winner. Projectile weapons are forbidden but any other violent means are legally permissible. A ticket worth $3.6 billion falls into the unwitting hands of newly minted California resident Awkwafina, and only an apparently well-intentioned John Cena can keep her from the clutches of a bloodthirsty mob.

Last weekend's #1 film on Prime is the kind of thing you might think twice about spending $10+ a ticket to watch on a big screen, yet it's more or less inoffensive viewing as part of your already paid-for monthly package. The R-rating buys you a hundred-some F-bombs but the frantic violence is mostly bloodless and actually that's kind of a refreshing boon, in contrast w/ your average PURGE or JOHN WICK entry. Whoever choreographed the mayhem seems to have borrowed a lot from Jackie Chan's action comedies and that keeps things buoyant and amusing. Awkwafina gets out of hand only about 5% of the time, which is an improvement over whatever the last thing was that I saw her in. Cena is really the MVP, though, not just for the physicality but also for - like The Rock and Dave Bautista - maintaining a perfectly affable profile even as the majority of the humor is at his expense.

One qualified criticism of JACKPOT: it's one of those modern comedies where the dialogue feels predominantly improvised by the cast, and evidence is provided by the long series of alternate takes that play during the closing credits. (Always a classy move, amiright?) I like improv (heck, I teach improv) but JACKPOT really feels like the producers had requested another draft before shooting started and then the Screenwriters' strike happened and they just threw their hands up and decided to roll with what they had and improv over the potholes. There are a handful of really funny lines but also a lot of groaners and non-starters. John Cena is a wrestler, and he is an entertaining actor, but don't expect him to fix your screenplay for you, eh?

3/5

[M.10rda]

My friend showed Punishment Park at his collegs libertarian meet up group. People asked if they could watch V for Vendetta instead, but I liked PP

Lol I mean I'd think Libertarians would get riled up by PUNISHMENT PARK but who knows.

[Rev. Powell]

DOGMAN (2023): A boy, caged with dogs and raised there by his sadistic father, grows up understandably misanthropic, preferring the company of canines. Sometimes sloppily plotted, "DogMan" hops genres, from trauma drama to thriller to romance with even a bit of superhero thrown in, but it's got just enough crazy energy to save it from disaster---any movie with Caleb Landry Jones (who gives his all) as a crippled, asexual drag queen who communicates telepathically with dogs is likely to be a little oddball. 2.5/5.

[M.10rda]

A HYENA IN THE SAFE (1968):
A what in the what, now? A handful of shady Europeans show up at an urban mansion during a noisy street festival, most in possession of one of six keys that will open a safe that contains millions of dollars in stolen diamonds. Naturally one key has gone missing and suspicions ignite, followed by the expected Agatha Christian regularly scheduled mayhem. There's definitely too much plot in this oddball giallo that immediately seems like it will be a Tarantino-type single location thriller but ultimately ends up more like OCEANS TWELVE in terms of gratuitous and probably nonsensical plot twists.

However, I did still get a kick out of A HYENA IN THE SAFE due primarily to the virtu-freakin'-osic visual choreography by director Cesare Canevari, who rarely settles for static or wide shots, instead restlessly moving both the camera and his actors to recreate compositions on the reg. Although this too was probably gratuitous and/or compulsive on Canevari's part, it did hold my interest consistently, purely because most shots look so cool and dynamic, and those that don't will end or reconstitute themselves in a jiffy. To their credit the cast of nobodies is also low-key cool and reasonably interesting, w/ special commendations to the main femme fatale Maria Luisa Geisberger, who looks like either a sexier Joan Collins or (sometimes) a drag queen, has no other credits on IMDB, and pitches out a truly overripe-to-hysterical performance. Certainly not boring, if also not brilliant!

3.5/5

Canevari mostly directed sexploitation, including THE GESTAPO'S LAST ORGY, a film that was ridiculous and disgusting yet did (as I recall) look pretty nice, so maybe there needs to be more Canevari in my future.