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| Use 'em or lose 'em, Doc. Your choice. |
Howdy, folks,
I gotta say, this has been the weirdest winter ever, both in terms of extreme temperatures and logy viewing parties on my part. I mean, when the polar vortex comes to town, shouldn’t it just be a natural reaction to just chill out, flip on the tube, and let the good times roll? In years past, when the weather wasn’t nearly as harsh, I’ve been known to bang out 50-60 movies in January without batting an eye. Yet, here we are with February in the rearview mirror and I have yet to crack the 45-flicker mark or even make it to the multiplex. Oh, the times, they are a-changin’. Granted, much of this has had to do with the ongoing promotion and celebration of HIDDEN HORROR (see Exhibit A), but even the Oscar race hasn't been able to spur the enthusiasm of days gone by.
That said, I’ve enjoyed the fine cinematic diet prompted by the good folks at Shout! Factory and Kitley’s Krypt, not to mention a little dose of nostalgia that sent Burnt Offerings (ergh) and Alone in the Dark (yes!) into the player in between bouts of filming a couple of horror shorts myself. Note: do not sign on for any future projects that involve lying dead in a snowbank in one’s undergarments. It just ain’t worth it.
As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.
Enjoy!
HORROR:
Alone in the Dark (1982) d. Sholder, Jack (USA) (3rd viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Bad Moon (1996) d. Red, Eric (USA) (1st viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Burnt Offerings (1976) d. Curtis, Dan (USA) (2nd viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Night of the Demons (1988) d. Tenney, Kevin S. (USA) (2nd, 3rd and 4th viewings)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Witchboard (1986) d. Tenney, Kevin S. (USA) (2nd, 3rd, and 4th viewings)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
KRYPTIC ARMY JANUARY MISSION: OPPOSITE DAY
Atomic Man, The (aka Timeslip) (1955) d. Hughes, Ken (UK) (1st viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
Neanderthal Man, The (1953) d. Dupont, E. A. (USA) (1st viewing)
***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***
CIVILIAN:
Dredd (2012) d. Travis, Pete (USA) (1st viewing)
A year after hearing it praised by Video Junkie's illustrious Thomas Sueyres, I finally lucked into a screening of this belatedly lauded action flick that banishes all memories of the 1995 Stallone debacle with 200% more style, blood, violence, explosions, and 300% less Rob Schneider. Karl Urban (forever doomed to be “Dr. Bones McCoy of the new Star Trek franchise”) does a fine job of low-wattage badassing while Leda Heady and Olivia Thirlby deliver two strong female roles in the form of terrifying warlord MaMa and new Judge recruit Anderson, respectively. Yes, it resembles The Raid in some ways, but that’s hardly a bad thing.
Laura (1944) d. Preminger, Otto (USA) (2nd viewing)
Having revisited Singapore Sling last month, I decided to break out this classic noir to see how much it might inform my recent viewing of Nikos Nikolaidis’ mind-fuckery, since references to Preminger’s film abound. Truth be told, there wasn’t much new insight to be found, but I’ll accept any excuse to watch Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Judith Anderson, and Vincent Price all do their thing in service of a detective story about “a man who fell in love with a corpse.”
Nashville (1976) d. Altman, Robert (USA) (2nd viewing)
Such a brilliant kaleidoscope of narrative filmmaking on every level, minus casting Henry Gibson as an Opryland icon. The poor guy acts the hell out of the role, but he just can't sing it. Even if you don't like country music, there's no denying that some of those folks (even back in the 70s) could sing. All of those 70s stalwarts (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Hoyt Axton, George Jones, Buck Owens, etc.) may have had their vocal idiosyncrasies, but they were in their own zone and they sold it. I never got that from Gibson, whose Haven Hamilton is supposed to be an industry superstar. Had it been a story about people *wanting* to be country stars, that would have been different. I understand the film is not explicitly about the music, but about the characters. That said, the archetypes that Altman is riffing on were innately talented, which is what Gibson lacks. Had he been a Johnny Cash in talent, his disingenuous behavior off stage would have been that much more poignant.
2104 Totals to date: 32 films, 12 1st time views, 17 horror, 0 cinema
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