Recent Viewings, Part 2

[Rev. Powell]

MY VEGAS EYES (2026): College-aged "Emo Superstar" is left behind in a depraved post-apocalyptic Vegas after the rapture. Experimental film-school type movie with lots of solarization, crazy color grading, and bizarre costuming to disguise its microbudget; its a quite sincere, impressionist movie evoking the disillusionment and angst of your early 20s. 1.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

CHAO (2025): In a world where humans and merefolk co-exist uneasily, the daughter of Neptune falls in love woth an awkward human engineer who is not at all interested in marrying a fish. The art and character-design style is bizarre and inventive, though the jagged lines are not attractive to my eyes; plot and pacing are erratic. Will appeal to very young kids and anime fans, but not a crossover audience. 3/5.

[lester1/2jr]

Looks like the board is fixed for me. Now, I have just have to watch something.

[Rev. Powell]

1000 WOMEN IN HORROR (2025): A panel of female directors and critics examine the depiction of women in horror films, emphasizing how the genre empowers women. This wide-ranging discussion of female archetypes in horror--the innocent, the ingenue, the final girl, the hag--includes plenty of iconic, gruesome clips and is great fun for horror fans. 3.5/5.

[M.10rda]

Were you having issues? It's been very slow to load for me...

[M.10rda]

CLEANING UP (1925):
Another "William Goodrich" short starring Johnny Arthur, not nearly the most exciting silent comedy star.  It's only 17 minutes but it does drag w/ Arthur mostly onscreen alone. His wife wakes up in their disorderly bedroom, promptly gets dressed to visit her mother, and tells Johnny to clean the (large) house while she's away. Hey, we all been there, right fellas? Johnny does a poor job of it. Feathers somehow end up all over the place, Johnny's giant dog chases a cat around the house, the fire department shows up and sprays a hose all over the joint, and then Mrs. Arthur returns, aghast, just in time for the flooded second floor to collapse into the living room - the film's finale and its one raison d'etre, really.

3/5    It isn't funny but there are some incredible (and patently unsafe-looking) images of mayhem. Studios kept giving Roscoe tons of money to build sets and then absolutely destroy them and that is a perverse pleasure to observe.......

[indianasmith]

Blumhouse's TRUTH OR DARE:
   A group of friends on spring break in Mexico get invited to an abandoned church where they play a game of truth or dare with their host - who then informs them the game will never end.  If they refuse to tell the truth or take the dare, they die.  The only way to escape is to invite others into the game - which, it turns out, is possessed by an evil spirit summoned by a group of novices years ago to deal with an evil, predatory priest.  Crazy concept, fun movie with some great kills. 4/5

[FatFreddysCat]

"Neil Peart: No One's Disciple" (2026)
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson look back on the life and career of their fallen bandmate, drummer Neil Peart, who passed in 2020. In between anecdotes and vintage video clips, they jam on some Rush tunes with the help of some of Neil's drummer friends, incl. Danny Carey (Tool), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Stewart Copeland (The Police). A heartfelt tribute to an immense talent gone too soon.

[FatFreddysCat]

"Billy Idol Should Be Dead" (2025)
A fascinating look at the 80s rock icons life and career, as well as his numerous near-misses with the Grim Reaper. A fascinating watch.

[lester1/2jr]

I have recently been thinking about Billy Idol's "Hot In the City".