June 13, 2021

The History of Future Folk

Rating: 3 of 4 space helmets
A fun sorta mockumentary about a couple guys who started playing Bluegrass in 2004 in NYC cosplaying aliens visiting earth. The guys are endearing, other actors not bad, and Dee Snyder runs the bar where they play. It’s definitely worth a watch, unless you hate Bluegrass. On Netflix.

June 3, 2021

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

Rating: 3 out of 4 demonic possessed kids As good as the best of the Conjuring/Anabelle movies. Aside from the standard not turning on lights, and 20w bulbs in the lights that are on, good scares with strategic, but not too frequent scary imagery.

May 22, 2021

Army of the Dead

Rating: Two of four zombies
Sounded awesome. Zach Snyder? Zombies (again)? Should be awesome. Was just OK. Many slow parts, a bunch of fun scenes, but it just didn’t gel.

May 1, 2021

A Touch of Evil

Rating: 5 of 5 camera cranes
Orson Welles last US film as a director. The first shot, about 4 minutes long, is a masterpiece. 1958, and an amazing non-stop tracking shot with what had to be a crane truck that could retract to follow people walking on the street. I’m sure Tarantino studied it closely.

March 22, 2021

Godzilla vs. Kong

Rating: skip it
Wasn’t expecting much, even though one writer did Avengers movies and the other the Godzilla/Kong movies. It was atrocious. So, so so bad. Nearly every scene a ripoff of a good monster film, terrible dialog, stupid plot. Expensive effects. Do not recommend.

March 15, 2021

Parasite

Rating: Amazeballs 5 out of 5 subtitles Refreshingly original concept and story, good acting and situations. Unexpected plot twists seal the deal.

October 28, 2020

The Skeleton Key (2005)

Rating: 3-1/2 out of 4 Sarsgaards Great atmospheric thriller/horror. Good acting from world-class actors (including John Hurt), great cinematography of Louisiana, never quite sure who to be watching out for. A couple lazy plot points, but pretty solid story.

October 28, 2020

Darkness Falls

Rating: Zero out of Four wisdom teeth
Ooo, is that Anya from Buffy? Why yes it is! The first 30 minutes were really good. Demon tooth fairy. This concept could work. But it soon lost all semblance of plot, actors came and went, logic was lost, flashlights were lost, hope was lost. And then it got silly. And then it just got totally stupid, and I was wondering when Nicholas Cage was going to show up.

October 25, 2020

Hush (2016)

Rating: 3/4 plunging knife wounds Found this on Netflix. I assumed a “terrorized alone in a house in the woods” flick could bring nothing new to the oversaturated genre. I was wrong. Well written and acted, very few “why are you hiding behind the wall of chainsaws?” moments. A lot of tension, a smart strong protagonist, a brilliant soundtrack (I realize now I’m very picky about soundtracks), some very scary bits, and one scene in particular that is extra special disturbing, plus a satisfying ending.

October 18, 2020

Call of the Wild

Rating: 2 of 5 computer generated canines
Slightly better than my very low expectations. Disney Mousewashes a brilliant Jack London story, but still kills a couple of people in the process. Jack London would have despised it.