Recent Viewings, Part 2

[M.10rda]

Very interesting review, Lester! I installed a tor browser maybe 7 or so years ago our of curiosity, then opened it and had no idea what to do next, so I closed it and never returned. Alas, it wasn't like as soon as I opened the browser I was presented w/ offers for online drugs or human slaves or discounted assassinations or anything. Maybe they talk about this in the documentary, but I presume the "Dark Web" still required users to know what they were looking for and how to find it.......

[lester1/2jr]

I have a 2010 Gateway computer and an android phone, so I'm with you.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Riot on the Dance Floor" (2014)
Cool documentary about City Gardens, the legendary concert hall/nightclub in Trenton, NJ. The club's uber-dedicated DJ and show booker Randy Now, turned a run down warehouse in a sh*tty neighborhood into a Mecca for punk, new wave, and non-mainstream music of all kinds during the 80s and 90s. I never went to City Gardens (I lived in Northern NJ, at the opposite end of the state) but I heard many stories of famous shows there by the Ramones, Black Flag, Nirvana, and many others. (Henry Rollins' story about Black Flag opening for Venom there in 1986 is worth the price of admission all by itself.) It sounds like it was quite a place!

[lester1/2jr]

"He walked By Night" (1948) - Some walk by night, some fly by day. At least, that's what Billy Ocean or whoever it was believed. I think I saw this before because I remembered the scenes where the guy would evade capture by sliding into the sewer openings on the side of the street. I didn't remember any of the movie itself though and I really liked it this time around.

A normal looking guy is a wiz with modern technology, able to transform normal TV's into awesome projection devices and that sort of thing. Unfortunately, he's also a burglar and cold blooded killer for some reason! Why not just stick with the scientific stuff? Who knows. A hefty part of this low budget but atmospheric film noir is police procedure stuff. I'd give them an A for their fact collecting ability, but they stink at pursuit. You don't have all your guys go in the building pointing the same direction at the same time.

It's a cool movie, though. I'd say the reason it isn't better known is that there is no beautiful female lead. In fact, it's kind of a total sausage fest. There is maybe one cute brunette at the overhead projector, build the profile scene. She says "that's him, but his eyebrows are thicker" or something. That's not enough.

It's definitely a cut above though.

4.5/ 5

[M.10rda]

28 WEEKS LATER (2007):
First-time viewing to prepare for seeing 28YL... glad we watched this as it does illustrate how the first film's "happy" ending gets all FUBAR by a couple of dumb kids.......

Of course this isn't as good as 28DL - it doesn't have Brendan Gleeson, or Cillian Murphy. It does have a strong cast - Robert Carlyle, Imogen Poots, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, and Idris Elba - but perhaps most to the point, it has four screenwriters (three of whose names I don't recognize) and none of them are Alex Garland, thus the lean, efficient character beats from the original are ground down to the bone. (Elba mostly stands around staring at monitors...)

But, 28 WEEKS LATER is... much scarier than 28DL, maybe much much scarier, and 28DL wasn't exactly a slouch in the frights department. I don't know if I would say I get "scared" much at horror movies, but I definitely get stressed out during the best of them, and this one kept me in a state of high-level anxiety for nearly its whole two hours. Director and co-writer Juan-Carlos Fresnadillo steals with both hands from Zombie Cinema history: from Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD and THE CRAZIES, DAWN OTD '04, Lenzi's NIGHTMARE CITY, Fulci's ZOMBIE, Bava's DEMONS, and even from ALIENS. But the swipes don't feel cheap - all these elements add up to a mega-mix of terror that rarely relents. This is also the first time in a long while a movie has given me nightmares - like, hours of nightmares - or, as I prefer to think of them - sweet sweet dreams of zombie mayhem.  I ain't complainin'!

4.5/5
Fresnadillo has made only 4 films in 23 years. INTACTO ('02) was decent and DAMSEL from last year was pretty good too. The third one stars Clive Owen and a female character named "Mia Farrow"      so the hell I'm watchin' that. I wish he'd make more full-tilt screamfests like this!