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Relic (2020)

Director/Writer Natalie Erika James' debut is cast well and oozes atmosphere. The use of dementia in one of its characters also works very well here.

The main issue with it lies in the bulk of the script. Even at a trim 89-minutes, so much of what it promises early on isn't fully delivered by the end of the film's run-time. Part of that is the film's aversion to directly addressing the film's self-contained mythos.

The final 20-minutes are solid but the film takes far too long to get to that point.

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Phase VI (1974) directed by Saul Bass! Surprisingly good.

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Boring as F

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Paranormal Activity (2007)

Even though the film's simplicity can be attributed to its budget, I've always appreciated it quite a bit more than the latter films in the series because of it.

Katie Featherston & Micah Sloat are solid in this as well.

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The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Every time I re-visit this film, my appreciation for it grows. Absolutely love how improv is handled and helps amplify the entire experience within the film.

I initially saw the film during its theatrical run in 1999 and hadn't seen it again in theaters until tonight, where I saw it at a Drive-In Theater!

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Before I Fall - another movie about a character caught in a time loop. While Palm Springs was essentially a rom-com, this one is more of a dark teen drama. This movie takes a while to introduce the time loop premise, and I found the early scenes at the school and the party kind of annoying because the main character and her friends act like first-class bitches. But ultimately we see that is kind of the point and at least one of them has some redemption.

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Ralph Breaks the Internet - this was fun, I especially liked the princess scenes.

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First Time Viewings:
Anne of Green Gables (1985) (****1/2 out of *****)
Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987) (****1/2 out of *****)

Rewatches:
Vincent (1982) (**** out of *****)
Frankenweenie (1984) (**** out of *****)
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985) (****1/2 out of *****)

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Jaws (1975) — Solid shark-thriller that still holds up well with each subsequent viewings. Love the cast especially Robert Shaw and was entertained even during some of the slower moments. Not a favorite of mine or amongst Spielberg's resume, but a lot of fun. ****¼/*****

Survive the Night (2020) — Paint-by-numbers and utterly predictable home-invasion like thriller has some average performances including Bruce Willis who makes his (in my own collection at last) 12th one of these direct-to-video flicks from Grindstone Entertainment and gives it his least. Not terrible and I don't mind a simplistic thriller but this one had low energy and characters making dumb decisions. Beyond that, confusingly seems like the filmmakers want to provide some sympathy of the antogonists, one a complete psychopath who killed two women in cold blood...

From what I read, apparently Bruce Willis gets something like $1M a day for these movies, with no publicity obligations. Must be nice.

Not terrible and I've certainly seen worse, but like most Grindstone movies, they're competently shot, feature a somewhat experienced cast (this one has Chad Michael Murray who starred in the last few "Sniper" DTV films) but apparently they bought the script from some scrapheap. **¼/*****

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THE SPIRIT OF NOTRE DAME (1931)

I saw this Universal film (from the same year as Frankenstein) on a very degraded print on You Tube.

The film works well though at capturing a moment in history, showing the American Football talents of Notre Dame at a point in time immediately after the death of their well regarded coach, Knute Rockne. Indeed Rockne was on his way to Hollywood to be an advisor on this film when the plane he was in crashed, ending a legendary career. He is portrayed in this film simply as the un-named character of 'Coach' played by an actor who bares a close resemblance to the Rockne of later years.

Unusually the film adopts a very distinct two act structure; the first covering the arrival of neophyte player Lew Ayres at university and his gradual acceptance by his peers due to his grit and determination on the field. His fellow players include the likes of Andy Devine in one of his earliest roles, fairly convincing both as a player and hillbilly style comic relief. The second act shows the players at the end of their college careers, slowly being taken overwhelmed by the upstart newcomers they themselves once were. There are the usual stories of sporting films; competitive romantic relationships, the sick player everyone gives their all for on the field in the hope of recovery, the close finish between two well matched teams. These cliches were perhaps not as old when this film was made but we still feel the ennui of sitting through them.

Production values are very high with lots of football sequences clearly shot at Notre Dame and some very ambitious shots. In one scene the camera, positioned behind goal does a dramatic leap upwards in a fast crane shot and then zooms forward in and over the goals to capture a key moment of action. It is a hugely effective moment, especially for the early days of sound when cameras were housed in substantial blimps to keep unwanted camera mechanical noises at bay.

Lew Ayres, coming off All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) effectively shows a range of emotions from the over-confident country boy trained by his own brother to the seasoned professional who sees himself losing his chances to a younger player. Ayres would eventually have an acting career spanning more than 65 years and was always an effective player.

This could have been very weak indeed given the age of the production but proves very effective at nearly every level.

7/10.

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It was hard to understand what they were saying even with closed captions.

Wish it has more scenes with Colin Farrell. Adidas should have been listed as one of the producers.

Surprised this movie has not gone under the knife from the cancel culture mob since there could be a lot of racial stuff that might tick some people off.

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I watched it before on channel 36 a long time ago and it was heavily edited and nice to own and watch it in HD.

Police corruption a problem that is still with us today.

Too bad they don'tt make movies like they did in the 70's anymore.

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Sphere (1998) — Interesting idea but poorly executed and overly long. Acting was okay but nobody really stood out. At least some of the effects weren't too bad for 1998. I actually back in the day read the novel but don't remember anything from it, just know this adaptation was pretty different when I saw this in theaters in '98. **½/*****

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Nathalie: Escape from Hell (1978) — I'm not overly familiar with Nazispolitations (this is the first one I've seen) but this was an okay enough movie, though had a difficult time getting past the awful dubbing, many scenes where the mouth isn't even open, plus an instance of a line of dialogue being repeated back-to-back. Still, Patrizia Gori is a beaut and Jacqueline Laurent's cackling was hilarious yet also oddly scary. **¾/*****

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Available on Netflix streaming and Ridley Scott is the executive producer.

It was ok but kind of slow

His girlfriend was not that hot but she loved to bang.

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***1/2 (****) I have always enjoyed this film that somehow never got the attention it deserved. One of Linklater's best film and I was always hoping Criterion would release it on Blu-ray. I still can't believe the film is 24 years old, time really flies.

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Not a remarkable movie but a nice story and Roth and Owen were good.

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Spent most of the day rewatching some old favourites I hadn't seen in a while, including...

Dressed to Kill - Up in my top five De Palma movies (although I'd still put at least three movies of his ahead of it, which would be Blow Out, Body Double, and Scarface...and maybe even Snake Eyes, as I have a serious soft spot for that flick). Anyway, just a fantastic thriller that I think holds up really well. Especially like the scene in the museum...And I thought Nancy Allen was just perfect for her role. The music is also really good, and I like the twists the film takes. Only thing that I'm not too sure about is that...


Odd Man Out - Still one of my favorite movies of all time, and I like it even more than Carol Reed's The Third Man. I just thought the plot was really tight, and I liked the use of metaphors and subtext that is discussed by the characters in the final hour or so of the movie. The set design (or location shooting, I think it's a combination of both) is superb, as is the music. I also love how it started snowing later on in the movie, as I know I've mentioned before the for whatever reason (maybe it's being born and raised in Canada, in a very, very snowy area), I just love seeing it snow in movies. I also thought that this (maybe along with his role in North by Northwest) was James Mason's best role. He was perfect in this, and so was Kathleen Ryan. And the movie is perfect at just under two hours, as it really just breezes by.

They Live By Night - Another old favorite, and this and On Dangerous Ground are my two favorite Nicholas Ray movies, although he has several others that really hold up well. Farley Granger is awesome (just like he was in Strangers on a Train) and Cathy O'Donnell was equally impressive. In terms of "couples on the run" movies, this is right up there with the very best, including Gun Crazy, Bonnie and Clyde, True Romance, and Robert Altman's excellent remake, Thieves Like Us. A very breezy movie at just over a hour and a half, I also have to say I was impressed with a lot of the driving shots. They must've used a crane or something following them, as the angles are very high up (and I don't think they used a helicopter but I might be wrong)...Really good movie that makes you feel for the characters and their...


For those that haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend.

Now have to figure out what to watch next...I'm thinking maybe Cassavetes' Love Streams (which I've never seen) or maybe Kelly's Heroes (which is another movie I've seen bits and pieces of on TV but haven't ever actually seen the whole thing from start to finish...

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The Blair Witch Project (1999)

After getting the opportunity to watch this film in a Drive-In Theater last weekend, I decided to watch it again at home.

Absolutely love this film. As I mentioned previously, my appreciation for it grows on repeat viewings.

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Blair Witch (2016)

The set pieces in this film are fantastic but it lacks the documentary feel of the original film, as well as the organic chemistry of its cast.

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8 Days A Week (2016)

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I taped Dressed To Kill and is on my DVR

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Another movie you forgot Brie Larson was in.

The scene with the dad (Kyle Chandler) was really awkward.

The first time I saw it I gave it 3 stars and now I moved it 3 1/2 stars out of 5 :lol:

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wait, you showed this Rated 'R' flick with Ron Perlman, Rae Dawn Chong where an ape woman gets raped (on camera), i believe and there's lots of other stuff? what was the age of these students?

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Short Cuts - Recently reread that book I think called "Altman: An Oral History" (or something like that) and it is excellent; finished it in a day, so decided to rewatch some of his films, including this gem. Already rewatched McCabe & Mrs. Miller for like the 40th time, but this is probably only my fifth or sixth viewing of Short Cuts (mainly due to the length obviously; which I don't have a problem with, but sometimes it's just hard to dedicate three hours to a movie you've already seen when there's a stack of like 200+ movies and tv shows that I haven't watched yet). Anyhoo, just as awesome as I remembered. Acting is top-notch all-around, with the standouts probably being Tim Robbins, Tow Waits, Anne Archer, Julianne Moore, Lily Tomlin, Jack Lemmon (the monologue he delivers to his son, played by Bruce Davison, is a masterclass in acting and writing), and Peter Gallagher (man, he must've loved this role, given what Altman allowed him to do; his portrayal of Stormy Weathers was one of the highlights of the movie). You might as well list the entire cast, as there's really no poor performances, but those are the ones that really stood out to me. Loved the interconnectedness of all the storylines and characters, and felt that it just had the perfect mixture of comedy and drama. Also must say that the opening credits of the movie were fantastic and really helped set the mood. Also...


Kelly's Heroes - Finally watched this from start to finish. Not quite as good as other "men-on-a-mission" movies like The Dirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare, but it's pretty solid. Not a giant fan of Telly Savalas, but he was tolerable in this. Eastwood was basically just playing the same character he pretty much always plays. Wasn't sure what to make of Donald Sutherland at first. He definitely went pretty "broad" with his portrayal of "Oddball"...some might even say it was a pretty cliche stoner type role...BUT, since it is Donald Sutherland, somehow I felt he was able to pull it off, and after about ten minutes of his schtick, you kind of accept it and even grow to enjoy it. It was also nice seeing Harry Dean Stanton in an early role (here just credited as "Dean Stanton"). Loved that last battle sequence in the town, and loved how they really took their time setting everything up and coordinating a plan, which really built up the suspense. I guess I'm just glad I finally watched this and can now cross it off my list...

Probably watching Eastwood/Siegel's The Beguiled next, then maybe I'll finally watch Love Streams...