What classics did you see last week ? (29 Dec - 4 Jan 2020)

Tomorrow At Seven / Ray Enright (1933). Jefferson Pictures/RKO Radio Pictures. The infamous serial killer The Black Ace likes to warn his victim ahead of time by sending them, well, a black ace – the ace of spades. Mystery novelist Neil Broderick (Chester Morris) is gathering evidence on the killer. He manages to get an audience with rich businessman Thornton Drake (Henry Stephenson), another expert on the Black Ace after meeting Martha Winters (Vivienne Osborne), daughter of Arthur Winters (Grant Mitchell), a close friend and associate of Drake. Shortly after arriving at Drake’s home, Drake himself receives an ace of spades. Winters phones the police and who should show up but the two dumbest cops in Chicago played by Frank McHugh and the ubiquitous Allen Jenkins, McHugh being the slightly more evolved of the duo. The whole group decides to fly to Drake’s Louisiana plantation but on the way in the airplane, the lights go out but someone other than Drake is killed. Inside the plantation house, everyone is a suspect including Broderick who seems to be in communication with someone outside in the dark. They all have to spend one dark night with the threat of the Black Ace hanging over their heads and with everyone in the cast, including the eccentric maid and a cadaverous looking coroner (Charles Middleton, Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon serials). It is all resolved in a slugfest and the two cops are of no use at all. Generally entertaining, if a routine effort.




Background To Danger / Raoul Walsh (1943). Warner Bros. Cinematography by Tony Gaudio (Adventures of Robin Hood, The Letter, Juaraz).  This was George Raft’s last picture for Warner and in Jack Warner’s opinion it was Good Riddance. The movie is based on an Eric Ambler novel about a business man traveling in Turkey who falls into trouble with spies and espionage. Raft, as-per-usual, demanded changes in the script to turn him into an American intelligence agent working undercover. W.S. Burnett (Scarface) is credited with the screenplay but William Faulkner, Daniel Fuchs, and John Collier also worked on it. Raft plays Joe Barton, going through Turkey, a neutral country during WWII. A Nazi plotter, Col. Robertson (Sidney Greenstreet, as fascinating to watch as ever), wants to plant fake evidence in Turkish newspapers that Russia is planning an immediate invasion of Turkey in order to sway public sentiment into throwing in with Germany for protection. Barton runs into a woman who has stolen the fake plans. She gives them to Barton for safe keeping but she is later killed and Barton loses the plans to a mysterious brother/sister couple played by Peter Lorre and Brenda Marshall. The movie is quite watchable, a Raoul Walsh action adventure, with a lot of talent in front of and behind the screen. But Raft, more and more, seems to me a black hole in the middle of some otherwise good movies.






Seven Doors To Death / Elmer Clifton (1944). Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). The movie starts with a bang – and scream. Following the gunshot, a woman runs to the street and commandeers the car being driven by Jimmy McMillan (Chick Chandler). The car crashes and when Jimmy wakes up, the woman is gone. Rushing back to the scene, Jimmy spots a dead body through a window, but when he sends the police, the body of the body he saw - wearing a checked coat - is gone but another corpse in a tux is in the next room. Jimmy sets out to find the murderer and unravel the mystery. Running just about an hour even, the movie is still a little tiring to watch mainly because the DVD print from Westlake Entertainment (a now defunct indie distributor of public domain product) is incredibly dirty making nighttime and basement scenes very hard to make out. Gower Gulch studio PRC was unable to provide the production with much of a budget. Chick Chandler, usually a wisecracking sidekick (e.g. Mr. Moto Takes A Chance) plays a wisecracking leading man in his only top billed role in a feature film. A game cast along with Chandler, June Clyde, George Meeker (his portrait on his Wikipedia page is from Seven Doors To Death), and WWII pin-up girl Rebel Randall – are what will make this watchable, if anything will.



Chick Chandler as Jimmy McMillan


Favorite pinup of WWII GIs, Rebel Randall



Gaslight / George Cukor (1944). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg (The Women, Mrs. Miniver, Random Harvest). This is a truly classic film with a couple of truly great performances. Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman) as a young person suffered the trauma of finding her beloved aunt, a famous opera star, strangled to death in her London home. She is whisked away to the continent where she grows up and meets the charming pianist Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). They marry and return to London to Paula’s former residence but move all the old furniture to the attic to avoid bad memories. Then strange things start to happen. Pictures disappear from the wall and are found hidden. Some of Paula’s jewelry is lost and she can’t remember having it. There are strange noises at night from the locked attic that no one but Paula can hear. Gregory begins to suggest that she is losing her mind. A ray of light is seen in the person of Scotland Yard detective Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotton) who suspects that something is going on in that house which is closed to visitors. And boy, is he right, even though giving us a rather weak character, at least compared to the powerhouse acting by Bergman and Boyer. And speaking of great acting, this is Angela Lansbury’s Oscar nominated screen debut as Nancy the new maid who walks the thin line between deference and impertinence. She is quite brilliant. At the very end, as Boyer and Cotton are leaving, the little sarcastic curtsy she gives has got to elicit a laugh. Well deserved Academy Awards went to Ingrid Bergman and to four men for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White.



Ingrid Bergman


Charles Boyer and Angela Lansbury



Fear In The Night / Maxwell Shane (1947). Pine-Thomas Productions/Paramount Pictures. Cinematography by Jack Greenhalgh. I really liked this cheaply made thriller based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich, a master of knotty mysteries. Wisely, the script hews closely to Woolrich’s story. The film opens in the midst of a dream of Vince Grayson (DeForrest Kelley, his screen debut). Vince dreams that he is in a room of mirrors. There is also a man and woman there. The man attacks him and they fight. Vince kills the man and woman flees. Then,,,he wakes up. He is in his own bed in his own room. But he sees finger marks on his throat and finds in his pocket a key and button that also were in his dream. Did it really happen? How could it? He goes to his brother-in-law Cliff, a homicide detective but Cliff (Paul Kelly) is of no help, citing Vince’s overwork. Later, on the road with Cliff, his sister, and girlfriend, Vince seems to be familiar with places he knows he has never been before. Is something supernatural at play here? Can there be a logical explanation for what is happening? This is a terrific little movie – shot in 10 days – and is endlessly entertaining. The Hotel Commodore at the intersection of 7th Street and Lucas St. in Los Angeles served as the exterior of the hotel where Vince had his apartment.




Paul Kelly’s ride. He says it’s his new second hand car that he traded his old second hand car for. It’s a 1941 Plymouth De Luxe Four-Door Sedan,



No Man’s Woman / Franklin Adreon (1955). Republic Pictures. Maneating cougar Carolyn Grant (Marie Windsor) likes to break up couples for fun. She has been separated from her husband Harlow Grant (John Archer) for two years but will not agree to a divorce unless gives her half his income and a $30,000 cash settlement even though he wants to marry Louise Nelson (Nancy Gates). When Carolyn’s employee at her art gallery, Beth Allen (Jil Jarmyn) announces she is engaged, Carolyn sets out to seduce Beth’s fiancé (Richard Crane) just for kicks. Given that Carolyn is such a deliciously Bad Girl, it is no spoiler that she is shot to death after a lengthy set-up of more than half the movie. There are five major suspects, the husband Harlow, his inamorata Louise, Beth and her fiancé, and Wayne Vincent (Patric Knowles), Carolyn’s lover who she dumps immediately after learning that he has become unemployed. The movie is basically a whodunit with a police investigation, alibis, questioning, etc. Maria Windsor can give a movie noir cred just by showing up but when she departs the picture and Harlow must do some detecting to clear himself, it becomes just another whodunit. Actually, from the summery I have given, if you know how movies of the period work, you can deduce the killer.



Marie Windsor



Killer’s Kiss / Stanley Kubrick (1955). Minotaur Productions/United Artists. Cinematography by Stanley Kubrick. This was Kubrick’s second directorial production (he also wrote, produced, and was his own cinematographer). Kubrick himself called it a “student” attempt but critical opinion has been mostly positive. It definitely falls into the film noir category and features some innovative camera work and decisions such as a zoom down a city street projected with negative film during a dream sequence. Country boy Davey Gordon (Jamie Smith) is trying his hand as a professional boxer. The only problem is: he has a glass jaw. In the early going we see him take a serious beating in a match, so much so that he decides to give up the game and go back the family ranch in Wyoming. But through his apartment window, he can see into the apartment of Gloria Price (Irene Kane). Gloria works in a dime-a-dance establishment. The owner, an older man named Vinnie Rapallo (Frank Silvera), decides he is in love with Gloria and can’t live without her. When she rebuffs him a work, he shows up at her apartment and tries to rape her. Jamie sees it and rushes through corridors to reach her room and save her. Vinnie is humiliated so vows a terrible revenge on both of them. “Killer’s Kiss” is now near the top of my favorite noirs of the 1950s. An essential.

Just two classics last week..

the woman in white (1948) ☆☆☆
Dream cast from WB in this period gothic, Greenstreet, Eleanor Parker, Alexis Smith, Agnes Moorehead.

alias nick beal (1949) ☆☆☆
Wicked Ray Milland in top form in drama/fantasy, attempting to corrupt politician Thomas Mitchell.

Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good weekend and a happy New Year,I had the chance to see two unique Musicals in the run-up to the end of the 2010's:

Musical duo:

On Dec 27th,I went with a pal to Birmingham to check the sales,and also attend a revivial screening at The Electric, on what turned out to be the day the cinema turned 110 years old.



Having only seen The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) once in 2012, I was taken by how Demy kept what could have been a heavy Melodrama,playful, along with the melancholy touch in the snow-covered final. My rating has gone from 8,to 9.

In the run-up to X-Mas,I read reports that in a weeks time Universal were going to remove the original print to a Musical, due to how badly it was bombing. Suspecting this could be a "special" movie-but finding no one else crazy enough to see it,I went on Boxing Day night to town,and saw:



Cats-The original CGI glitches Midnight Movie cut (2019.)

A truly,"So Bad,It's Good"-8/10!

Stating in interviews at the premiere that he was still working on CGI sequences just hours before the screening, director Tom Hooper & cinematographer Christopher Ross cough up a $100 million (plus another $100 million for marketing) "So Bad,It's Good" grand furball folly. From the opening shot descending into the world of Cats, a utterly strange atmosphere wiggles on screen, shaking in the CGI proportions of the cats changing between shots,and even the CGI fur on the hands/faces of the cast re-appearing/disappearing from shot to shot (and they spent millions on this!)

Having made Les Misérables (2012-also ) reviewed, Hooper gives the impression of unintentionally making a anti-Musical, where would-be decadent vast settings for the cats dancing on the streets of London, is melted by Hooper into appearing it's been dipped in tie-dye acid dripping colours down Hooper's distorted, weaving camera moves on dance movers,originally performed with a skillfulness by dancers, that is hilariously dented by Hooper placing ill-fitting CGI cats skeletons to copy the dance moves.

Closing in with hand-held shots towards the I Dream A Dream-style set-piece with Memories, Hooper makes it come off as a unintended spoof,due to his regular composition of placing the performer into the far side of the screen, causing the fever dream vision of the half human/half animal CGI animals, (complete with human faced bugs,who get eaten!) to be sneezed into the melting backdrop.

Clawing into Andrew Lloyd Webber's Musical adaptation of T.S. Eliot's poems already giving them the challenge that the stage version spends 90% on set-up/intros to the Cats, the screenplay by Hooper and lee Hall try in desperation to place new, additional tension over who will go to the Heaviside Layer, that gets in the way of the tail-shacking, joyfully nonsensical, disconnected to cat buglers (get it?!) old cat dames, and the railway cat who got the cream.

Dr Goldfoot trio:



Goldfoot 1 (1965) 6

Cackling as each new bikini-clad robot comes off the conveyor belt, Vincent Price succeeds in stealing the film with a wonderfully hammy turn, thickly sliced by Price snarling like a 007 baddie at Gamble and Armstrong's attempts to stop him. Whilst Gamble is slick as the fish out of water Gamble,Susan Hart zaps the big slap-stick Comedy punch-lines as Diane, thanks to a mix of sass in a gold bikini, and playing all the gags in a deadpan manner.

Stacking the screen with bikini robots, director Norman Taurog & cinematographer Sam Leavitt spin a groovy atmosphere which blends the Teen Beach Party flicks eye candy with the Euro Spy coolness,as the brightly coloured lair of Goodfoot allows the makers to use sets/ wide-shots of the Price film Pit and the Pendulum. The most expensive AIP production at the time, Taurog puts the $1 million budget on screen in a mad dash zany whip-pans final chase to Armstrong and Gamble unzipping Goodfoot's bikini machine.

Goldfoot 2. (1965)3

Commenting later on the films, Vincent Price said "It could have been fun, but they cut all the music out". For this TV special, director Mel Ferber put the music back in, for dance numbers, which could have been swinging, but missteps with flat dancing shot with stilted cameras, and plodding, dry lyrics. Designed as a way to hype up the first film, Vincent Price is the lone bright spark in this special, thanks to Price gleefully laughing at creating the bikini machine of Dr. Goldfoot.

Goldfoot 3 (1966)3

Finding the mix of Beach Party movie hip teens and Euro Spy coolness to make the first Goldfoot a hit in Italy, studio AIP decided to make a Goldfoot just for the Italian market, where they got rid of the teens and Euro Spy quirks, in exchange for a dire "Slap-Stick" Comedy. Stupidly shoving Vincent Price's Goldfoot and sexy Laura Antonelli's sultry Rosanna to the sidelines, (the only two good actors in the film)the 4 writers (!) instead float in a showcase for comedic duo Franchi & Ingrassia's plodding, gurning act.

Attempting to get out of the contract to make this version (a different English version was shot at the same time,on which he was given no say over the production) director Mario Bava & his regular cinematographer Antonio Rinaldi display some of Bava's unique colourful flourishes in Goldfoot's lair, but otherwise are clearly bored in waiting for this girl bomb to go off.

Gialli Queens duo:



The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968) 8

Falling the honeymoon bliss of Deborah and Marcel off a knife edge into a pit of murder and betrayal, director Romolo Guerrieri & cinematographer Marcello Masciocchi wed the couple to the first psychological-driven wave of Gialli with a pristine, corrupt bourgeoisie atmosphere of the couple being wrapped in glistening white surroundings, which Guerrieri merrily spoils with dollops of candle wax blood.

One of only two Gialli he made, Guerrieri displays a sharp eye in moving towards the ultra-stylisation which would grip the genre, offering a artful eyeful of topless Deborah, and a groovy nightclub dance with Batman on the wall. Playing on the notes of paranoia with Nora Orlandi's dreamy score bringing up Marcel's suppressed memories, Guerrieri brilliantly uses obscured angles to heighten ambiguity in the Giallo set-pieces over who is getting stabbed in the back. Setting the stage for what Sergio Martino (who worked as a general manager here) would do in the Giallo, Sergio's brother Luciano joins Ernesto Gastaldi for a female-led, doubtful couple Giallo terror screenplay, as the writers tighten the screws on fears that Deborah and Marcel might both be losing their minds.

Dipping into the death of Marcel's past partner with fractured flashbacks, the writers raise doubts between the couple by each of them hearing music and phones ringing that appear to be coming from a unseen place. Working on both Gialli made by Guerrieri, Jean Sorel gives a terrific turn as Marcel, whose sorrow Sorel carries with a heaviness which remains even as the Giallo twist ending wraps around him, whilst George Hilton tugs at flamboyant ambiguity as Robert Simack (get the ref?) Initially holding hands with Marcel in a cheerful state, alluring Carroll Baker gives a excellent performance as Deborah, thanks to Baker taking the loved-up state of Deborah and peeling it away to raw, calculating mistrusts which covers the sweet body of Deborah.



Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) 8

Backed by a uber funky score from Berto Pisano, co-writer/(with Massimo Felisatti and Gene Luotto) director Andrea Bianchi & cinematographer Franco Delli Colli blissfully place one layer of Giallo sleaze on top of each other,via Bianchi ogling the naked fitties in slick panning shots round their lavishly spread out apartments. Whilst offering viewers a eyeful of Edwige Fenech's giallos,Bianchi balances the glamour shots with a proto-Slasher grittiness into the ultra-stylisation of the Giallo, via striking extended first-person tracking shots reflecting on the visor of the biker-helmet wearing killer, opening to icy long creeping silent shots towards the short,sharp, shock murder set-pieces pulling a red gash across the screen.

Turning the taps onto what led to this wave of killings in flashback droplets, the screenplay by Bianchi/Felisatti and Luotto take a richly cynical stab at all in this tale, where the bourgeoisie victims reek with corruption, and a deep desire to keep misdeeds under water (a major theme of the Giallo genre.) Rolling out a ripe twist ending, the writers make this Giallo mystery a winning strip, thanks to each additional victim bringing into focus for the investigating Carlo (a jet-set,spinning on curiosity Nino Castelnuovo) and Magda (a sexy,lusting Edwige Fenech) uncover the event which led to the victims stripping for the killer.

Other flicks:



"People talk without understanding each other."

"Girlfriend now,I have a have a girlfriend now ,No way, no how I get a girlfriend now."

Featuring a detailed booklet, Masters of Cinema present a superb transfer, with the picture being crystal clear whilst retaining a film grain,and the soundtrack being smooth. Stating in a interview that filming had to be stopped for 2 and a half months due to the original studio going bust, co-writer/(with Suso Cecchi D'Amico and Alba De Cespedes) directing auteur Michelangelo Antonioni & his regular cinematographer from this era Gianni Di Venanzo layer foundation over the behind the scenes troubles, to magnificently gaze at the progression of Antonioni's recurring motifs.

Inviting the audience in with a opening shot of Clelia looking in a bathroom mirror of her hotel room, as a glamorous dressed Rosetta lays dying from a overdose in the adjoining room,Antonioni perfectly captures his distinctive stylisation, reflecting in the recurring use of mirrors and glass surfaces the detachment the girlfriends have from the image/person looking back at them,which shines onto elegant, long, stilted wide-shots subtly building a separation between the girlfriends and the viewer.

Entering each of their households, Antonioni highlights the beauty of each girlfriend in close-ups set against a earthy, (separated by their high-class living) ravaged landscape. Getting the role just two days before filming began after turning heads with a photo shoot,Madeleine Fischer gives a terrific turn as Rosetta, with Fischer using the limited number of credits she had gathered to give Rosetta a dying wallflower innocence, looking outwards as all around her become more insular. Later called the "Diva" of the set who "felt that she had to act as such,without success." by Antonionoi, the beautiful Eleonora Rossi Drago gives a magnetic performance as Clelia, with her state of being a outsider entering Rosetta's friendships, leading Drago to emphasize a separation between Clelia and the girlfriends.

Freely adapting Cesare Pavese's novel, the writers welcome the girlfriends with outstanding dialogue pulling on how even when they appear deep in conversation,everyone is reflecting complete isolation and a inability to process difference of opinion. Stated later by Antonionoi that he directed each actress in different ways, the writers dress each of the girlfriends in wonderfully at odds styles, from the outward looking Rosetta and the glamour of Momina, (played by Hammer Girl Yvonne Furneaux) to Clelia standing as a square peg in the middle of the girlfriends.

It: Chapter Two (2019) 5/10

Advance to the Rear (1964) 6/10

Lady on a Train (1945) 7/10

The Alamo (1960) 8/10

The Madness of King George (1994) 7/10

Road to Utopia (1946) 5/10

Prom Night (1980) 3/10

The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) 7/10

Bullet Head (2017)

Adrien Brody, John Malkovich and Rory Culkin are thieves who hide out in an abandoned warehouse in which Antonio Banderas keeps his very angry pit bull. Sounds more like an action thriller, but it plays more like a drama, with intermittent moments where the characters tell dog stories from their lives. The cast are doing their best, especially Adrien Brody, and it has some gripping moments, but the whole dog fighting thing made me uncomfortable.

Awake (2019)

An okay thriller that will keep you watching, but I guessed the outcome long before it unfolded. Francesca Eastwood is the female lead, daughter of Clint Eastwood and Frances Fisher.

Black Christmas (1974)

Stalkin' around the Christmas tree!

What makes this movie work so well is that it's just out to make your skin crawl and nothing else. It digs down to that level where you should feel safe but something trespasses there and you'll never feel safe again. Someone hidden in your house is out to kill you? Yeah, that's just a great concept, and it unfolds masterfully.

Not to be lumped in with all the other quickie slashers that followed, this is a legit movie with atmosphere and pure suspense. Very little gore, it relies on creeping terror that builds and builds. It explains almost nothing, which is far more horrifying than having it all explained. You're left to imagine what and why, not having all the answers increases the creepy factor.

It's pretty basic filmmaking, and yet, it rarely has been duplicated properly. Obviously there was a lot of imagination, skill and talent involved all at once, people who wanted to make something great, and succeeded. Bob Clark and Roy Moore fought the studio to make this movie the movie it is, and not the movie the studio wanted. True artists. The ending is one of the most terrifying things ever put on film. I can't imagine this movie without it.

I can't recommend this movie enough. I saw it only once before, many years ago, so long ago I nearly forgot just how effective it was. I had to increase my rating because it is simply miles ahead of most thrillers made since and impressed me all over again.

Black Christmas (2006)

Back when I first saw this, I was just taken aback by how insulting it seemed to even attempt to remake a classic that didn't need remaking...and then to go off and make it crazy gory and in the absolute opposite direction of the original. I hated it.

Now, after rewatching the original and before seeing the newer 2019 remake (oh, Hollywood ), I find myself being able to separate this from the 1974 movie and just sit back and enjoy this somewhat sillier update for what it is.

This movie takes the bare bones of the original and builds on it, like Wile E. Coyote builds his latest Acme contraption. And much like those beloved Warner Bros. cartoons, it moves at a breakneck pace, very unlike the original movie. There's blood flying in the egg nog almost immediately and icicles impaling people left and right. Some of this was intended by the filmmakers, some of it was forced upon the movie by those wascally Weinstein brothers.
It served as a nice dessert after an exquisite meal that the first movie was. Nowhere as great a cinematic achievement as the original Black Christmas, but as a fun-loving gorefest for the holidays, it was okay and I now no longer want to return it on Boxing Day.

Black Christmas (2019)

THE GOOD:
* That bloody candy cane poster
* Maybe because it's so different from the other versions, I found myself never bored and a little intrigued for awhile
* The cat was cute and survives the movie
* Imogene Poots. I like saying her name out loud and she delivers a fine performance
* The lack of death-by-plastic-bag-suffocation scenes that the 2006 movie did over and over and over (and over!) in homage to the 1974 original
* That pro-woman attitude. Who doesn't love a strong woman?

THE BAD:
* Forgot I was watching a horror movie for the longest while, too long actually. A Christmas horror movie, in fact, which seemed not like a Christmas movie in any way either. It's sinful to set your movie at Christmas and proceed to not make it seem Christmasy in any way
* Cary Elwes. Fire your agent, you were in The Princess Bride for crying out loud!
* A remake in name only. There's no plot similarities other than young women being murdered. After that, it goes off in some completely rando direction. It made me think of the Paul Walker movie The Skulls more than the original Black Christmas.
* A weak slasher movie, being PG-13 sure doesn't help. I only hope people don't see this and hate it and decide never to check out the brilliant original based on not liking this.
* It makes the 2006 Black Christmas seem like the 1974 Black Christmas in comparison. Well, not really, but you know...

The Best Man and The Best Man Holiday (2013)

The Best Man was an okay dramedy, more drama than comedy though. It didn't impress me too much, but the sequel, The Best Man Holiday did what most sequels rarely do, surpass the original. It is an emotional ode to friendship and family. You're gonna need a bigger box of Kleenex!


Free State of Jones (2016)

The people of Mississippi have had enough of the Confederacy and the North won't help them so they fend for themselves. This movie flew under the radar it seems. It's truly great but doesn't seem to have much of a following. McConaughey is intense and Mahershala Ali is too. I would recommend checking it out.

Fragile (2005)

Calista Flockhart in a haunted hospital for children in England. An okay time killer.

Fractured (2019)

An engaging mystery thriller that really kept me swinging back and forth on where it was going until the end. It's nothing we haven't seen before but it's well told and Worthington seems on top of his game. Needed more Lily Rabe, but I'm just glad to see her at all.

6 Underground (2019)

Michael Bay needs to lay off the caffeine!
This movie makes Fast & Furious look like Driving Miss Daisy!!
This movie reminded me of a squirrel trying to cross a busy intersection!!!
It's crazy but I had a great time, the premise is fun and millions of dollars were spent to make it so you better enjoy it.

Booksmart (2019)

Booksmartis relatable, raunchy and a real riot! It's fun and sweet, you really relate to these girls. I was also the kid that showed up to parties and people were shocked to see me there, so I related to that.

Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein (Jonah Hill's little sister) are the modern day Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald. They are going to be huge. Billie Lourd is a maniac in this and nearly steals the entire movie. She deserves to star in a movie soon, and not just standing in the background of Star Wars movies. Olivia Wilde, was not expecting this from you, you have the directing chops, bravo!

Red Sparrow (2018)

Not the action thriller I was expecting, more of a spy drama, with several scenes of extreme violence here and there. It's long, and I guessed the ending correctly early on, but I would recommend this, it's entertaining.

J-Law's bangs were even more distracting than her Russkie accent, but she does carry the movie quite well. Matthias Schoenaerts looked like a mini-Pootin' which surely must have been intentional. Charlotte Rampling as head mistress of the "whore school" was not the kind of teacher who you bring an apple...at all! The dude with the skin shredding device was a great scary baddie straight out of 007!

The Fanatic (2019)

I really liked The Education of Charlie Banks, Fred Durst's movie directing debut, but this one seems universally loathed. I didn't mind it, except that it painted autistic people so negatively in some ways. It's entertaining and Travolta in character-actor-mode is something to see, he is really good. It all gets a little crazy at the end but the final twist was satisfying. It's not the worst movie of the year, it does crossover into that territory a little though. See it for yourself and make up your own minds.

The poster makes it seem like a suspense thriller but it's really more of a character study. Travolta makes the movie watchable.

Until next week...

Hi Pol.hope you are having a good weekend,how did you find IT 2 to be?

Well made but not that scary in all honesty. The acting is great but Pennywise is barely in the movie. And there's no reason for it to had been almost 3 hours.