Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

MR. K (2024): A traveling magician (Cripsin Glover) gets trapped in a labyrinthine, shrinking hotel where he can not only not leave, he can't even find the manager to check out anytime he likes. As the title suggests it's somewhat Kafkaesque, though more in the vein of a sinister "Alice in Wonderland," and although it's not entirely successful or original, it is the type of pseudo-surrealist movie that rarely gets produced at this scale. 3.5/5.

[M.10rda]

You had me at "Crispin Glover" and "surrealist"!

FOUR DAUGHTERS (1938):
Okay, there's four daughters, see... they belong to Claude Rains as an aging widower music professor, which sounds like license for Comic Gold and in fact is why I watched this movie, though Rains is fifth-billed (after the daughters) and probably has the 7th or 8th largest role.  Naturally I don't begrudge him his paycheck, and he's outstanding as always. The film predominantly focuses however on the romantic entanglements of the daughters and their procession of suitors, one of whom is John Garfield in an early role. The four daughters are played by three real-life sisters (one of whom bears no resemblance to the other two) and a fourth unrelated actress (who looks identical to the two real sisters).  I was looking for something fairly innocuous for the end-of-semester/pre-holiday period, though short of the mind-deadening Hallmark Christmas movies I've been watching or trying to watch. This fit the bill - for a while. (There's even a Christmas sequence.)

I should mention that FOUR DAUGHTERS is directed by Michael Curtiz, who directed many famous films in the 30s and 40s, including CASABLANCA, my perpetual bugbear. After 20 or so minutes of FOUR DAUGHTERS, I was thinking: Y'kmow, this Michael Curtiz is a pretty good director...! That led me to reflect that I've seen at least a half dozen of his movies and my complaints about those are never related to how the film is shot or edited or anything. FOUR DAUGHTERS bears some understated yet palpable auteurially zest, shall we say, and it moves along engagingly with zingy dialogue and mostly affable performances.

It's only as it enters its third act that FOUR DAUGHTERS begins to show some fundamental problems... some that are similar to those I've had with Curtiz' other pictures. Alas, the guy couldn't be a true auteur if he exercised so little control over (or regard for) his material. By the final stretch of FOUR DAUGHTERS, none of the leads are behaving like realistic human beings with organic needs and emotions... they're just performing a series of choreographed maneuvers demanded to get them from artificial plot point to the next. Yeah, FOUR DAUGHTERS looks nice and it's zing-y, but it's mostly hollow... like a lot of Hollywood product from the era. Also, Garfield plays a one-note pity party princess and the other major male love interest is a glib philanderer, so feh on that.

Still, at least FOUR DAUGHTERS has the dignity to dress up its shallow, empty excuse for a screenplay with a lot of classy fixin's.
3/5
Apparently it was a big hit - there are at least two direct sequels and a spin-off with the same cast as different characters. I can't imagine the contrivances that ensue in order to justify three more movies...

[FatFreddysCat]

"Superman" (2025)
Disappointing "reboot" finds the Man of Steel locked in yet another battle with Lex Luthor with the fate of the world in the balance (again).
The special effects are great and I like the new guy playing Superman, but otherwise this was yet another overlong, overstuffed superhero sandwich with unnecessary cameos by other heroes, and too much geo-political gibberish.
Just give Krypto the Super-Dog his own movie, DC. He's the best thing in this.

[indianasmith]

BLOODY SUMMER CAMP
   Two best friends take off to be camp counselors for a summer together.  All the counselors are, of course, way too old to be the early twentysomethings they are portraying, the characters are bad caricatures, the sheriff is such a ridiculous character he's downright hilarious, and they're all being stalked by a masked killer. A mildly entertaining slasher with a very slight twist at the end - and worst of all, about 30 minutes in I realized I had watched it before! Still, it was better than ZOMBIE TOILET BABY STRIKES BACK.  Then, so was my last bowel movement. 2.5/5

[pacman000]

Das Boot

U-571 took a lot from this movie. Das Boot is probably more realistic, but U-571 is more entertaining.

[Dr. Whom]

Companion (2025)

A couple get together with friends on a weekend retreat. The girl, however, is a robot programmed to be to perfect companion, and is unaware that she is not human. What could possibly go wrong?

This one is a hoot! It is impossible to talk much about the plot without spoiling the fun. It is one of those movies where the characters try to fix things, but then the actions have unintended consequences, which then prompt further decisions until the situation spirals completely out of control. It won't revolutionise the genre, but it moves along briskly and at 97 minutes doesn't overstay its welcome. It doesn't try to be anything else than entertainment, if you want a thoughtful discussion of AI, you should watch Ex Machina. Excellent performance of Sophie Thatcher as Iris.

[indianasmith]

COBWEB (2023) - Every now and then Netflix throws out a gem of a movie, and this was one example - for me, at least.
Peter is an 8-year-old elementary kid who lives with his parents in an old, creepy house.  He hears odd bumps and noises coming from behind his bedroom wall late at night, and his parents (ably played by Lizzy Kaplan and Anthony Starr [Homelander from THE BOYS]) are sympathetic at first, but their reactions become more and more sinister and suspect as the voice behind the wall reveals its true identity.  This movie really ramps up the tension for the first hour, and although a lot of IMDB reviewers thought it fell apart in the last act, I didn't mind the ending at all. Slight similarity in some places to this year's hit WEAPONS, but the plot goes in a very different direction.  I RE+ALLY liked this one and got genuinely creeped out by a couple of the scenes.  4.5/5

[Trevor]

Still, it was better than ZOMBIE TOILET BABY STRIKES BACK.  Then, so was my last bowel movement. 2.5/5

Sitting here depressed and sad until I read that 😳🤣😂😀😆😃😳😀😆😃🐢

[FatFreddysCat]

"Red Sonja" (2025)
After years in Development Hell, the red-headed, sword swingin' warrior woman of comic book fame makes her return to the big screen with young, unknown Matilda Lutz (who?) in the title role. This time out, Sonja's on a quest to find her lost tribe, doing battle with a whole lotta armored bad guys, some poorly CGI'd monsters, and a would-be Emperor along the way.
All in all, it's a cheap, cheesy sword & sorcery flick that looks like a pilot film for a SyFy Channel series from 20 years ago. Yes, it's THAT bad. I have a new contender for Worst Film I've Seen This Year.
In case I haven't made it completely obvious ... AVOID.

[M.10rda]

Folks, we have a Bad Movie "winner"!

THE FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR (1961):
Instantly as the film begins you will ask yourself: What Is It??? Is it for kids? Is it an art film? Is it a Chinese live-action remake of BAMBI? Is it a heretofore undiscovered Rene Cardona/K. Gordon Murray follow-up to SANTA CLAUS and LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD? Is it softcore porn for furries? Is it a peyote nightmare without the peyote? Is it complete and utter horse$#!t? The answer to most of those questions is.. yeah, pretty much!

Human actors in threadbare animal costumes frolic around a mountain (to an instrumental version of "Jingle Bells"!) as "Deer Warrior", "Sika Deer", "Miss Deer", "Uncle Goat", and a variety of birds, rabbits, chipmunks, turtles, pigs, oxen, and other crap. (Uncle Goat keeps addressing a character as "Cat" but I saw no such recognizable creature.) Okay, so FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR is for kids, then! Well, no... there's also prominently featured femme fatale "Erotic Fox", who causes lots of mischief with her duplictous behavior and heavy pheromones. And also "Evil Wolf" quickly appears in a terrifying/ridiculous fetish mask, clubbing Deer Warrior's father with a fungo bat (for what is a sylvan kids movie without parent death?) and then eating several child actors.   

TFODW is quite a sight to behold, which isn't to say it's a Good Movie. Deer Warrior himself has about half of one character dimension, and that dimension is "big jerk". His love interest Miss Deer has so little discernible personality that it isn't even clear if she actually likes and wants to be with DW. (In one problematic scene, DW beats up lovelorn nice guy Sika Deer and the little kid animals pressure Miss Deer to accept that she's stuck with DW!) Also, the only print I could find is almost literal trash... so dark and faded it looks circa 1931 instead of 1961... it's clearly missing entire sequences... and at one point "Evil Wolf" surprisingly addresses the camera and opens his jaws to break the fourth wall, but then the audio cuts out entirely and the image deteriorates before your eyes.    What did he want to tell us??? 

Even with bits deleted, FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR overstays its welcome at nearly 90 minutes, but... I remained entranced and usually highly amused! The poor print quality may be why this one never found its way on to MST3K - or am I wrong and did they do this one at some point?! Cut to 75 minutes and full of good riffs, this would be a Bad Movie Classic. I'd wager you'll get sufficient laughs out of it even w/o pre-rolled riffs.

And - though furry cosplay honestly isn't my thing - I must confess I am a bit smitten with the slinky, horn-rimmed glasses-wearing Erotic Fox, who dominates two-thirds of the film with her sexy/daffy antics like a young Maggie Cheung crossed with early Mink Stole. Even the most asexual of Badfilm fans may feel a peculiar stirring in their depths when Erotic Fox dances to "Tequila"!     

3.5/5 for entertainment

And for my money, more children's films should end with GAMES 0F THRONES-style "execution of one's enemies" scenes.

[Rev. Powell]

SHE LOVED BLOSSOMS MORE (2025): Three Greek brothers work on building a "time machine" to bring their dead mother back from the grave, while taking heroic doses of psychedelics (including smoking the flowers that grow from mom's grave). More Lynch than Lanthimos, this low-budget Greek trip movie is structured around its Oedipal themes rather than plot (maternal flower vaginas, anyone?), and has a scene or two that will blow your mind. 3.5/5.