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The Falling (2014)

Weird one with coming of age and sexual themes. After her friend dies the main (very annoying) character starts fainting in an attention seeking way that gets her just that. Her classmates/friends soon start to "suffer" the same ailment to the extent that the school is shut down and a psychologist called in to interview the girls. There's no subtlety about this like Picnic at Hanging Rock and the mass squirming is hardly the nuns in The Devils (not that I wanted schoolgirls acting like that but they deal with the same themes of collective/induced mental conditions). Just a bit dull and the happy ending doesn't help it at all. That could be the worst bit.

I have a bad habit of occasionally not finishing a movie when I first sit down to watch it. I don't mean never finishing it else watching it in spurts. I started Alligator this evening and stopped for dinner, so it wasn't because I was bored or anything; it was meal time. Anyway the movie is all right. It's nothing too grand, although I have liked it well enough.

One thing I wanted to post before I forget is how, when seeing the alligator's eye early in the film when it's in the sewer (is it a spoiler when that's the whole premise?), the start of the music at that bit is almost identical to Jaws. Admittedly I chuckled. I found it amusing. Then the alligator attacked someone in a shot that reminded me of Jaws. I swear the movie Alligator is a homage to Jaws, which if you're going to make a "rogue animal" film, you may as well imitate the best.

Really though Alligator is good. I've liked it. The science is farfetched, which is fine. I didn't expect a realistic movie when I started it. Okay I'm going to resume it now. Yeah it's on Freeve, in case you were curious. It still is if you aren't curious.

I finished Alligator. I really liked it. It's far from perfect with some questionable dialogue and some weird continuity and flow. Overall it's highly entertaining. Watching an unrealistically large alligator eat people for 75 minutes, the first ten being setup and the last five of the 90 minutes being credits, is an enjoyable way to pass the time. It's kind of a low budget Jaws.

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I destroyed the dastardly dairy dame! I made mad milk maid mulch!

Meet Me Next Christmas (2024) Watched on Netflix. A woman tries to get tickets to a sold out Christmas concert in hopes of reuniting with a man she met the previous Christmas. I enjoyed this. It was cute and sweet.

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Dumb and Dumber - (1994)

I guess you have to give a movie a few points if it brings the laughs - and Dumb and Dumber certainly does, thanks mainly to a surprise chemistry Jeff Daniels shares with Jim Carrey - the latter of whom I may have expected to have wanted to dominate proceedings and nudge the former to the sidelines. Daniels has a shaggy dog goofy, cuddly kind of cuteness that does a lot to endear us to his character (Harry) and every time his child-like laugh comes into play I smile. Making a movie with two characters who are drop-dead stupid has the risk of alienating us from it's protagonists, but when they make us laugh as often as they do there's no problem. This is all packaged in a familiar way, but the Farrelly brothers (with Peter directing) were pushing boundaries already, and a few experiments produce the unexpected - everyone else plays dead straight, so the source of all the fun and mischief are our two memorable characters. There's not much more you can say about Dumb and Dumber - it's not a cinematic masterpiece or brain-teaser, just a collection of jokes regarding misinterpretation, mistaken analysis, fouled up computation and cerebral discombobulation. Funny enough to have been a massive hit - and enough to be quite watchable every once in a while.

7/10


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Idiot Box - (1996)

This one was interesting - an Australian movie that brings a lot of punk/grunge energy and nihilistic intensity to a story involving two "Beavis and Butthead" type hopeless young adults that decide to rob a bank on a whim. It's loud, crass, moronic and quite deliberately so - with it's saving grace probably it's soundtrack. Nice vehicle for Ben Mendelsohn, but it didn't quite crack the million mark at the box office and I suspect that not a lot of people outside of Australia have seen it. We were on the verge of a string of such films here, but Idiot Box is the formula in it's most raw, basic form and as such is probably worth a look for those who like the sound of it.

7/10


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The First Grader - (2011)

What a great true story to tell - about an 84-year-old Kenyan former freedom fighter going to school for the first time in his life, amongst small children who are getting the ability for a free education in a developing nation for the first time. And what a great place to shoot some visually breathtaking shots - Kenya. A shame then that this is absolutely safe by-the-book filmmaking and a pretty much standard Western film made by white people - an art-free, invention-free and risk-free zone which is in no way a chore to watch or bad in any way but at the same time failed to move me as much as it should. There's so much that could have been done with this story other than turning it into soulless corporate product. Sad to see it didn't get much notice, but perhaps it should have done more to stand out.

6/10


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Starbuck - (2011)

If you like really sweet films and you're not averse to finding out that the main character in Starbuck, despite the way he's introduced (as a complete screw-up who has donated so much sperm to his local sperm bank that he's accidentally fathered over 500 kids), has an absolute heart of 24 karat gold and is a beautiful person, then you might like this movie. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

6/10

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Topaz (1969)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Memoir of a Snail is without question the best stop-motion animated movie released this year, and one of the best animated movies of the year, period.

The film is reportedly loosely based on director Adam Elliot's own life - whether or not it really involved as many snails as he shows us here, I really don't know.

But in any case, it is a charming, bittersweet movie full of unforgettable moments that I just can't wait to watch again.

The very talented voice cast is headed by Sarah Snook, who plays the protagonist of the film, a young lady growing up in an Australian farm in the 1970s who was born with a cleft lip.

If you have young kids, remember that this is an R-rated movie!

Steve McQueen doesn't quite reinvent the WW2 genre with Blitz, but he certainly gives it a very timely update for the 21st century.

It's kind of a shame that Apple bought the movie, because it is receiving a minimal theatrical release ahead of its streaming debut later this month; like Wolfs, it is a movie that definitely needs to be watched on the biggest screen possible.

George is an 8-year-old living in London with his mother during the early years of the war, who decides he doesn't want to be sent away "for his safety" and bravely decides to head back to London to be with his family again.

McQueen uses little George's adventure to show just how much prejudice existed internally in Britain even as the country entered into one of its toughest wars ever to fight Nazi Germany.

Despite being technically American, Saoirse Ronan does a superb job as George's determined mom, who desperately tries to find her son amidst the chaos of wartime London.

The period detail and some sprawling vistas are absolutely riveting, I don't believe any contemporary movie has done such a good job showing what London was like during the Blitz.

As a WW2 movie, Blitz definitely covers a lot of familiar ground, but it is never less than fascinating.

Anora (2024)

Sean Baker loves bringing humanity to sex workers. Anora is the story of a stripper who falls for an Oligarchs son in Brooklyn New York. It's stars Mikey Madison who you'll remember from her pivotal roles in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scream 6. The stripper movie used to be a bigger thing in the 90's but they all kinda flopped critically and commercially.

Baker has finally figured out pacing in his films...I always feel like they drag but this one has three acts and they are all solid. The film also shifts from two male supporting performances Mark Edelstein who is in part one and Yuri Borosov who is in part two. You will never look at Russian thugs/goons again. Both characters are so good and play off Madison so well.

A lot is spoken about the anxiety of the film and Madison's physical athletic gifts are fully on display. Their is a scene in the middle of this movie in a room which is absolutely hilarious something out of a Cohen brothers classic. But the film also grounds itself...Madison's Anora isn't perfect but she's a lot more human than some of the other leads in Bakers films. She snarky but she also has a sweet side...it's a performance that lacks the vanity of previous strippers in these types of films. Because she acts more human and down to earth the events in the film hit much harder.

Visually it's not on the level of Bakers other films...its much more insular and doesn't have the tacky charms of Florida Project, Red Rocket, or Tangerines. Yet I think people will enjoy this one more for the character work.

Wolfs (2024)
Apple Plus

4/5



We start in pitch black, and hysterical profanity: District Attorney Margaret (Amy Ryan) is in a panic. She’s in a swanky New York City hotel room with a guy who is very young, and very dead. She happens to have a number, given to her by a friend, for a fixer who specializes in making all traces of career-ending messes like this disappear. The fixer (George Clooney) shows up and begins his process. But then a second fixer (Brad Pitt) shows up.

Clooney is the older veteran, proud of his status as the only guy in town who can fix this type of situation. Pitt is the cooler, younger version who also thinks he’s the only guy in town in this business. Clooney thinks Pitt must be an untalented pretender. Pitt is skeptical of what he figures is Clooney’s outdated, old school methods. Oil and water. Night and day. Fire and ice. They don’t like each other, but both are too professional, and proud, to back down and leave it to the other guy.

As you can imagine, this is just the start of the obstacles they’ll need to hurdle on this cold, snowy New York City night. Clooney and Pitt become reluctant partners as they try to cover their tracks, sort out through the complications, and slowly peel back the clues that reveal how they have more in common than they’d have liked.

Pure fun. Clooney and Pitt are charming and likable, each in his own way. We root for them, even though they’re bad guys who, in a perfectly moral universe, we should not admire. They’re comfortable in their characters, each sublimely calibrated to his own scruffy persona. As they finally puzzle through what really brought them together, writer/director Jon Watts had the good sense not to destroy the vibe by turning this into a mushy, all-out buddy movie.

At the expense of spoiling what is actually not much of a surprise, mention must also be made of Austin Abrams as The Kid. Oh gosh, that scene where he explains how he got into that mess: just an amazing, breathless, full-throttle one-take. And then there’s all the running through hallways, a closed mall, and snowy NYC streets. In his undies.

Extra points if you get the homage in the final frame to an even more exuberant and unabashed buddy movie.

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Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain ... only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

The Tommyknockers


"The Tommyknockers, Tommyknocker, knocking at your door... or something"


I remembered this one as a child but it never really captured my imagination and I could only remember fragments of it.


Everything is on display here of why King is not scary a lot of the time from a homicidal drink dispenser to a mainacal typewriter that prints your thoughts


There is also the slooshiness and at times unreal dialogue and interactions that come with the king territory which is perfectly coupled with the less self aware tv film making sensibilities of the early 90s


I quite like it although it's not "Needful Things"

Lee (2023-2024)

Am I Racist? (2024)

My Old Ass (2024)

The Outrun (2024)

First of all- subject of alcoholism is close to my heart. More importantly of all- the movie is made the way I like movies to be made. It is phenomenologically immersive, almost transcendental. It's non linear, just like thoughts and memories aren't linear.

i saw smile 2 , i rate it 6/10

High Sierra - A

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Small Things Like These (2024)

Really bummed they wouldn't play this film in the evening. I mean the options for me to watch this film week one are at 11 or 2 so you leave the theater and you are blasted with sunlight. Anyways this is what happens when studios pack and stack films in short periods of time. This is one of those films most people would skip I don't know if it's meant for a US release. This is an adaptation of an Irish novel from 1985 about an Irish father of five women is confronted by things in his town.

It's a dark film without being exploitative, most of the bad stuff happens in the perifphery. The subtly of the film hits you hard, it's also a very realistic view of 80's you hear the music but it's still a small Irish town. This is very much a catholic town that times forgotten. One of the more remarkable things about the film is how women are treated in this film.

Everything is just under the surface and open for interpretation with Murphy giving a powerhouse performance of subtle desperation. If you get the chance to catch this one go for it.

5th Rewatch...One of the top five worst translations of a Broadway musical to the screen. This black version of The Wizard of Oz suffers from overblown direction by Sidney Lumet (one of the few missteps in his distinguished career), the butchering of Charles Smalls wonderful score by the late Quincy Jones, and the dreadful performance by Diana Ross as Dorothy. This movie is just as terrible as I remembered.

I'm a mite confused. If you hate it, why do you keep watching it?

Just ran into it accidentally and wanted to see if I had been too hard on it

And you found out you were as hard on it as you figure you should be?

3rd Rwatch...One of Woody Allen's funniest and most unpredictable comedies that actually tells two stories at the same time without the viewer realizing it for a minute. Larry (Allen) and Carol (Diane Keaton) are a happily married couple who have just spent an evening being bored to death by their new elderly neighbors, Paul (Jerry Adler) and Lillian (Lynn Cohen). Larry and Carol learn 24 hours later that Lillian has dropped dead of a heart attack, but Carol finds herself obsessed as circumstntial evidence keeps popping up that implies Paul might have murdered Lillian and sets out to solve the mystery, dragging Larry kicking and screaming the whole way. Throw in the mix Ted (Alan Alda) Larry and Carol's recently divorced friend who has been crushing on Carol for years and Marcia (Anjelica Huston) a client of Larry's who makes no bones about her attraction to him and you have a dual story of an alleged murder mystery and some typical Allen dysfunctional relationships . The story takes several unexpected twists and turns along the way demands complete viewer attention which is definitely rewarded. Woody knocks it out the park here, a way better film than Annie Hall. Carol was originally going to be played by Mia Farrow but then the whole Soon-Yi thing came out, Farrow didn't want to work with Woody anymore and Woody's old pal Keaton stepped in. Love the scene with Woody and Diane stuck in the elevator and the multiple edited audio tapes they use to try and gaslight Paul.