Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

FINALLY DAWN (2023): Humble Roman girl Mimosa is miraculously chosen as a featured extra in a Cinecitta Egyptian sword and sandal epic circa 1959 or so, and then is taken for a night on the town with eccentric and arrogant star Josephine Esperanzo (Lily James). If you're in a patient and thoughtful mood, the elegant staging and accomplished acting will pay off, but it's not an immediate grabber--I can see how it might feel like a chore to watch if you're not settled in for a slow one. 3.5/5.

[chainsaw midget]

The Invisible Agent
Here we once again stray from the horror and even the monster aspect.  Our Invisible Man is a war hero.  When Nazis and a very wonderful and sadistic Peter Lorre (who actually plays a Japanese man here, yeah, I know...) track down the grandson of the original Invisible Man and threaten his life for the formula, he instead agrees to become the Invisible Man for the US military.   

THE INVISIBLE AGENT (1942):
I'd like to revisit the original someday, yet I'd never seen this one before and Chainsaw had me at "Peter Lorre". The fact that Lorre "actually plays a Japanese man" isn't made at all clear until halfway through the film. He's addressed as "Baron" until at last his Nazi counterpart (Cedric Hardwicke) calls him by his last name ("Akito") in anger. Then Lorre begins acknowledging his loyalty to his homeland of the Rising Sun....... this plot point does create some interesting conflict and provides Lorre w/ motivation beyond just being Evil. Of course the casting was objectionable, and this wasn't the only time Lorre played a Japanese character. To his credit, though, Lorre doesn't do squinty-eyes or reverse his l's and r's or anything like that. He just plays "Baron Akito" with his normal accent and mannerisms. In fact he looks, sounds, and acts so much like "Toht" from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK I started figuring Spielberg had based  Toht on Lorre's character here. So,  to Lorre for being as inoffensive and possible in this role. And yes, he is "very wonderful and sadistic".

This was worth watching just for Lorre, but Hardwicke is also fun. This is definitely "sci-fi/action/adventure/comedy", not a horror flick, oh well. Jon Hall plays the eponymous grandson of the original Invisible Man and is handsome (when you can see him, briefly) and has a good voice, though obv he's no Claude Rains. Letterboxd tells me that Hall returned for another sequel, though he plays a different character, which makes no sense to me but, ehh, Universal!

3/5

I'm always glad when I can point somebody to another movie that they enjoy.

[indianasmith]

PLANET OF VAMPIRE WOMEN (2011) - A group of mostly female space pirates rob an interplanetary casino/strip joint and flee from pursuing space cops to a deserted moon swept with energy storms and haunted by vampiric ghosts who begin attacking and vampirizing the crew, usually ripping their tops off in the process.  That's about it - groan-inducing bad dialogue, lots of gratuitous nudity, neck-biting, and spurting blood, along with alien bugs, a topless cyborg, and incredibly cheesy special effects. Quite literally the perfect Joe Bob Briggs type B movie!   4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Crackerjack" (1994)
After losing his family to a mob hit, a tightly wound Chicago cop (Thomas Ian Griffith) is sent on a forced vacation to an isolated resort in the Rockies. When a team of mercenaries take over the place to pull off a diamond heist, he's the only one who can stop them.
...sounds familiar?
Yes, it's another cheaply made, direct to video "Die Hard" knock off, with a slumming Christopher Plummer playing Hans Gruber to Griffith's John McClane. In spite of its total lack of originality, it's a fun, cheesy shoot-em-up that somehow spawned two sequels.

[pacman000]

Flags of Our Fathers

A good war movie, tho a bit depressing. Might've been better if it was more chronological; the flashbacks within flashbacks van be disorienting. Then again, maybe it was supposed to be disorienting, given it was about memories of 30-50 year old events.

[M.10rda]

THE RUNNING MAN (2025):
I wasn't eager to endure yet another 80s remake/Stephen King re-adaptation, but when Edgar Wright's name appeared in the credits, I felt a bit reassured. That reassurance was well placed. Sparing any plot specifics (as it's still pretty new), I can acknowledge that it is much more faithful to King's novel than the Ahnuld movie, both in terms of narrative and (bleak, angry) tone. That said, there's still some gonzo action setpieces and a heavy dollop of satirical humor that makes RM'25 feel more like a spiritual descendant of Verhoeven's ROBOCOP. Simultaneously it strikes me as capturing the dyspeptic socio-political spirit of November 2025 very vividly - surely intentional in part as well as something of a happy accident. (Or, perhaps King's novel was 45 years ahead of its time...) That's a lot of balls in the air for a director whose best work (SCOTT PILGRIM) is pure fantasy and who has elsewhere often struggled to handle tonal shifts, yet Wright sticks the landing.

I don't mean to overpraise RM'25, which has myriad moments of Idiot Plotting or just inherent contradictions of its world's logic. (Among other things, Glen Powell's teeth are immaculate for a guy living in abject poverty.) However, if you let the movie wash over you with Vibes while keeping your brain set to about 65% functionality, it's a reasonably good time. Wright reportedly directed Powell to remain in a perpetual "Bad Mood", and he does that to great and empathetic effect. It would be a real shame if audiences got so carried away rooting for Powell's character (as audiences do within the film) that they actually, I dunno, rose up against and destroyed a media empire or something. 

3.5/5
With scarily tall villain Lee Pace, Josh Brolin (who is having a very good year), William H. Macy (lending some HDS/Borgnine ESCAPE FROM NY vibes), Michael Cera (doing penance for his nearly catastrophic performance as Scott Pilgrim by being highly effective here), and Colman Domingo, grabbing scenery and shoving it in his mouth w/ both hands.