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Things were easier back in my day.  It used to be all one had to do to get dismembered was to say “Bloody Mary” in a bathroom mirror three times and turn the lights off and on.  But that’s not good enough for these kids nowadays.  They have to do all kinds of shit online […]

I suspect John Candy would have been able to make any comedy into a movie worth watching.  God knows I can’t imagine how bad 1985’s Summer Rental would have been without him. This is the typical slobs vs. snobs comedy, pitting John Candy against Richard Crenna in a coastal Florida town.  Crenna hates the summer […]

Some movies start out as one thing and then become something entirely different.  The problem is the result is usually something where one half or the other will appeal to different audiences, but neither will be happy with the whole thing.  Such is the case with the 2021 film from Thailand, The Medium. The first […]

2008’s Mad Money is an enjoyable but forgettable heist movie wherein three women who work menial jobs at the Federal Reserve in Kansas City steal great sums of bills about to be shredded. The operation is masterminded by Diane Keaton, who used to be living the upper-crust life until her husband (played by Ted Danson) […]

It’s hard to believe now, but Capitol Records was initially uninterested in The Beatles, so some very minor US labels (Vee-Jay, Swan and Tollie) pounced on the opportunity and licensed some of their early singles from EMI.  Once the group’s popularity spread to the colonies, Capitol sought control of those tracks, so Vee Jay tried […]

In general, I find low-budget pictures from before digital age more interesting than contemporary low-budget films, as well as major studio fare from any era.  These films tend to take more risks (albeit, not necessarily good ones).  Also, because films cameras and stock require some significant funds, the minds behind such pictures were usually deeply […]

I recently saw a car with a window decal reading, “White privilege is a myth”.  My hackles went up immediately.  I am not aware of any advantages that have been available specifically to me because of my race, but I know that, in general, there are far more opportunities available in the United States if […]

A hearse pulls up to the cemetery and the back door opens.  A woman in her 20’s bursts out.  Her long legs stumble just a bit as she walks, like those documentaries showing baby antelopes taking their first steps.  Soon, she is enthusiastically doing a rubbing of a tombstone. The actress is Zohra Lampert, and […]

The cliché says you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.  By that logic, you probably shouldn’t judge a movie by its title, either.  But somebody designed that book cover and somebody named that movie and, by doing so, they were trying to convey something to appeal to certain audiences. So I pounced immediately when […]

Automatic pilot and x-ray spex We were kissing in the cockpit when the airplane wrecked – “Dragon Lady”, The Geraldine Fibbers “We’re going to crash somehow.” “We will, but let’s go down flaming” –Times Square I thought about music the entire time I watched this 1983 movie, and it wasn’t just because of a killer […]

Zombie Nazis on a ghost ship attack a 70s version of the Gilligan’s Island passengers and crew.  If that sounds promising, then you’ll likely have a good time watching 1977’s Shock Waves. As Peter Cushing will eventually explain, these zombies are super-soldiers developed by the Nazis.  Cushing commanded this unit of the undead and captained […]

It must be difficult to make a movie about heavier subjects without lapsing into melodrama, given how many films fall on the wrong side of that fence.  2006’s Red Road is one of the pictures that immediately stands out in my mind as being a solemn drama that not once lapses into mawkish sentiment. Kate […]

About a decade ago, I finally managed to finish James Joyce’s Ulysses after three prior, aborted attempts.  This may seem an odd comparison, but I have had a similar relationship with It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, I kept starting this 2 ½ hour comedy numerous times, and repeatedly bailed after a half hour […]

We are in a city and it is late at night.  There is no traffic, car or pedestrian.  A hard rain is coming down.  Bundled against the rain, a figure in coat and hat is closing in on a darkened storefront.  That rain has to be cold, yet we can almost feel waves of hate […]