Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Alex]

"Wolfen" (1981)
A New York police detective (Albert Finney) assigned to a string of murders eventually learns that the suspects are a clan of shape shifters who can transform into wolves.
This stylish mix of police procedural and werewolf thriller makes the most of its New York locations (that early 80s South Bronx urban decay really shines through!) and it was also one of the first movies to use thermal imaging to show things from the wolf's eye view.

Always thought that was a very under appreciated movie.

[M.10rda]

EBBINGTON (2025) - OK, one of my students who has generally good taste in films recommended this, so I went in with high hopes. They were slowly, remorselessly crushed for the next two hours.   This was one of those movies whose internal logic was so vague and the plot so meandering that I rarely had any clue what was going on.  Set at the height of the COVID pandemic, a sheriff who is angry at mask mandates decided to run against the mayor who is enforcing them.  Then he gets mad and shoots the mayor, and tries to pin it on BLM protestors. Then someone is chasing and shooting at the sheriff. COVID conspiracy theories are spouted by a different character every few minutes.  The conclusion is . . . well, so bizarre I'm still scratching my head as to exactly what this movie was about.  Either it was so subtly brilliant it's just beyond my grasp, or else it's an incomprehensible train wreck that stole two hours of my life. Either way, I think I would rather have watched NUREMBURG again.  2/5

John Waters hates you. He named EDDINGTON best movie of 2025: "My favorite movie of the year is a disagreeable but highly entertaining tale as exhausting as today's politics with characters nobody could possibly root for. Yet it's so terrifyingly funny, so confusingly chaste and kinky that you'll feel coo-coo crazy and oh-so-cultural after watching. If you don't like this film, I hate you." Personally, I liked EDDINGTON, but not nearly as much as Waters (whose year-end top 10 list sometimes reads like a put-on).

I don't hate anyone for not liking EDDINGTON, but otherwise I really vibe with Waters' take on it. Maybe we should start a "Waters Best Of" thread since we have one for Tarantino.

[M.10rda]

Also WOLFEN is really interesting. Beautiful photography and great use of locations, good acting, lots of ideas... the rough cut was 4 hours long, which defies explanation (but man I wish a copy would surface).

[FatFreddysCat]

"M3GAN 2.0" (2025)
The creator of the original "Megan" builds a new and improved version to combat "Amelia," a next-level killer droid that wants to kick off an A.I. apocalypse.
Overlong, chaotic sequel to the surprise horror hit leans more towards sci-fi action - less "Child's Play," more "Terminator," filtered through Anime and K-Pop. The first "M3GAN" was dumb fun; this sequel is mostly just dumb. Skip it.

"Violent Night" (2022)
David "Stranger Things" Harbour plays a burned out St. Nick, who ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time when mercenaries invade the lavish home of a wealthy family. Yes, it's "Die Hard" in a Santa suit. A dark, cynical and gloriously ultra violent Holiday action comedy directed by Tommy Wirkola of "Dead Snow" fame.

[M.10rda]

DOS MONJES aka TWO MONKS (1934):
Here's a film that has developed a little cult following in recent times and exemplifies much of what I find alluring about early talkies and a ton of what I despise about many films of the era. It could have been a masterpiece, but manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Early on, two young-ish monks have a face-to-face reunion after a long parting. Almost nothing is said - instead they enter a fraught embrace that initially looks like they might make out, violently! But quickly real violence occurs, and it's legitimately shocking for a 1934 film.

Why the heck did this happen?! The film then enters a lengthy flashback to their younger adulthood. The murderous monk was a sensitive musician, his would-be victim was his globe-trotting playboy best friend. There are women involved in their relationship. Very little is ever said (or at least very little of concrete substance) while we watch this very off-kilter dynamic develop and eventually devolve. All of this action and post facto exposition happens against gloriously expressionist backgrounds, with deep contrast lighting, like from CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI or Ulmer's BLACK CAT. Because the screenplay provides so little clear evidence for interpretation, the viewer's mind fills in the blanks: it's confusing to be a sensitive young musician in Mexico in the early 1900s and to unravel your ambivalent feelings about girls and your powerful attachment to your very handsome and charismatic buddy. It makes perfect sense that the lead would compress all those unprocessed emotions into a highly pressurized explosive package somewhere deep in his gut and then go join a monastery. Heck, you could turn the volume down altogether on this one and still Get The Picture perfectly from the visual compositions and performances. For a long while, the film appears brilliant.

Unfortunately, the director of DOS MONJES is Juan Bustillo Oro, who also made the early 50s THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE. That later visually evocative thriller helplessly blows its "twist" ending by allowing a psychoanalyst to spend two-thirds of the film setting it up for the presumably moronic viewer. DOS MONJES fatally suffers the same affliction, though (for better or maybe worse) in its final act. Oro doubles back and assures us (for a good twenty minutes of dense dialogue scenes) that the schism was entirely about a girl!    So #nohomo, everybody! 

Maybe the producers or Mexico's own Hayes Code or something forced Oro's hand? Obviously I don't buy the denouement's heteronormative protestations. In fact the (mostly wordless) final scene is a full-scale symbolic freak-out that entirely reinforces the prominent themes of repression and gay panic. But the damage has been done - by insisting on talking too much, Oro ruins what could have been one of the greatest films of the 30s.

It's still worth watching with the sound off, I guess!
3.5/5
Like R.S. Fred said: Don't Talk, Just Kiss.

[lester1/2jr]

Eye Wide Wide Shut (1999) - I hadn't seen this in a very long time and am not sure I ever actually saw it because I really didn't remember anything. Very strange movie.

The first half was like a particularly pretentious skinemax offering, like the one where the lady and the Chippendale's looking vampire dude walk and talk around LA for 2 hours. The plot is begging for an Adrian Lynne/ soap opera approach, but Kubrick makes it more like an actual opera. Nicole Kidman talks in huge monologues while Cruise is reduced to hundreds of these little clipped statements.

The shift comes in the infamous weird elite orgy scene, which is really startling and well done. That said, the film is not actually very ambitious. It's mostly just trying to say that going outside of marriage for sexual gratification leads to peril. Not exactly rocket science and Kidman and Cruise actually seem like they are being portrayed as open to that kind of thing, so I didn't get that Cruise was doing anything overtly unusual until I was piecing it all together and reading about it later. 

That said, I watched the full 2 plus hours in one night. Much respect to the wardrobe/ camera operating department for somehow making Tom Cruise appear to be of similar height to Nicole Kidman. Kind of random, but it reminded me of several decades ago when Dogfish brewery made a "fancy" malt liquor 40 ounce using high quality ingredients instead of extremely cheap ones just kind of as a joke.

4/5

[M.10rda]

Eye Wide Wide Shut (1999) - Kind of random, but it reminded me of several decades ago when Dogfish brewery made a "fancy" malt liquor 40 ounce using high quality ingredients instead of extremely cheap ones just kind of as a joke.

Hilarious!

I only saw it once, in the theaters, and for some reason with my childhood friend and his middle-aged, socially conservative parents, who were unamused.

Kubrick at the end of his life might've been the prisoner of his own compulsions, painstakingly choreographing scenes to the point of self-parody. He apparently forced Kidman to do somewhere in the ballpark of 150-200 takes of the shot early on where she silently flirts with the guy at the party. That shot absolutely feels like the product of 150-200 takes and in no way feels authentic. The other things that stand out most clearly in my mind were the small, indelible performances from Alan Cumming, Rade Serbedjida (or however he spells it), and Leelee Sobieski, all of whom were clearly intent on making the most of their bit of screentime (and were successful). I also remember spending a large part of the film wishing Harvey Keitel and Jennifer Jason Leigh had ended up onscreen in the roles played by Sydney Pollack and whoever. I guess dynamos like those just don't mesh with the immaculate tapestry-like vision of a control freak like Kubrick.

[Rev. Powell]

Kubrick wanted to make a movie in every genre: a war movie, a historical epic, a crime movie, a comedy, a sci-fi movie, a horror movie... he ended up making a couple of sci-fi and war films, but he did have an ambition to work in every genre. Early on he wanted to make a XXX film but never had the balls (so to speak) to go through with it. EYES WIDE SHUT is as close as he came.

My friend was always upset he never made his Western (he almost did, but he ended up fighting with star Marlon Brando). I agree that a Kubrick Western would have been something to see!

I almost bought the new Criterion Collection edition of EYES WIDE SHUT but decided against it. I just don't think I like the film well enough to but it on disc.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Detroit Rock City" (1999)
It's 1978, and four dim-witted high school buddies embark on a mayhem filled road trip to KISS at Cobo Hall in Detroit. A very funny, raunchy period piece that's worth seeing even if you're not a KISS fan.

[lester1/2jr]

Fast Freddy's Cat - which is better Detroit Rock City or Record City?

[Dr. Whom]

Dead Talents Society (2024)

Ghosts can continue to roam the earth as long as people remember them, but they'll start to fade once they're forgotten. Luckily there is a way out to remain memorable: scare people and become an urban legend. Easier said than done when you're an average girl with no special talent. However, in the afterlife there is an entire showbizz industry, geared to transform you into an undead sensation.

This Taiwanese horror romp takes broad swipes at celebrity/influencer culture and societal norms. Not the most subtle movie you'll see, but great fun throughout. Kudos to Gingle Wang as the main character, who, it turns out, was also in Marry My Dead body. Also kudos to the director/writer for not shoehorning in a love story.

You'll also be surprised by how much work and planning goes in a decent haunting

[M.10rda]

Rev. Powell, I never knew about the Brando/Kubrick western. Did it never happen or did Kubrick leave the project? I like THE APPALOOSA (starring Marlon) but it's tricky to imagine it beginning life as a Kubrick film. (Never seen MISSOURI BREAKS.)