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Thursday, April 10, 2014

Fool's Views (3/3 – 3/16)


VERONICA MARS??  You said we were going to THE LEGO MOVIE!
Howdy folks,

This two-week period was highlighted by conversations with the one and only Larry Fessenden (and preparation for same), as well as a healthy dose of Aussie-flavored genre fare. But the civilian side had its own rewards, aided by a long overdue visit to the Chicago Public Library stacks and movie pal Lee Shoquist’s urging that if I liked Charles Bronson’s pairing with Cape Fear veteran J. Lee Thompson for The White Buffalo, then I owed it to myself to check out some of their other work together. After all, for these guys to work together nine, count ‘em, NINE TIMES, something must have been clicking, right?

And, for better or worse, it was also in the company of Mssr. Shoquist that I made my way to the cinema for the first – and to date only – time in 2014. Too bad it was to see a free screening of Veronica Mars. Next time I get the urge to watch a feature-length TV episode, I’ll just pop in Munster, Go Home!

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!



HORROR:


Chastity Bites (2013) d. Knowles, John V. (USA) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***





In Fear (2013) d. Lovering, Jeremy (UK) (1st viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***





OZPLOITATION TRIPLE SCOOP


Strange Behavior (aka Dead Kids) (1981) d. Laughlin, Michael (Australia) (2nd and 3rd viewings)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***





Thirst (1979) d. Hardy, Rod (Australia) (2nd and 3rd viewings)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***





Turkey Shoot (aka Escape 2000) (1982) d. Trenchard-Smith, Brian (Australia) (1st viewing)

I’ll let Andrew Borntreger from Bad Movies.org handle this one.

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/escape2k/





LATTER-DAY LARRY


Beneath (2013) d. Fessenden, Larry (USA) (2nd viewing) 

***CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW WITH LARRY FESSENDEN***





Last Winter, The (2006) d. Fessenden, Larry (USA) (2nd viewing)

***CLICK HERE FOR FULL REVIEW***




CIVILIAN:


Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) d. Zeitlin, Behn (USA) (2nd viewing)

Best Film of 2012. And 2013.





Before Sunrise (1995) d. Linklater, Richard (USA) (1st viewing)

Wish I’d seen this back before I knew there were two sequels awaiting me, because the ambiguous ending would have packed more of a punch. Still kinda great.





Fat City (1972) d. Huston, John (USA) (1st viewing)

Ah, the 70s. When you could spend time with losers and coulda-beens and train wrecks and it somehow managed to entertain because you cared about them. Oscar nominee Susan Tyrrell is an astonishing mess.





Lion in Winter, The (1968) d. Harvey, Anthony (UK) (2nd viewing)

Holy shinoly, Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn are SO good, and it’s fun to see Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton as little pups.





Veronica Mars (2014) d. Thomas, Rob (USA) (1st viewing)

I can see why it was popular. But it still felt like patently artificial, gum-smacking, wise-cracking TV.




DOUBLE BARRELED BRONSON


Evil That Men Do, The (1984) d. Thompson, J. Lee (USA) (1st viewing)

Brutal-as-hell revenge yarn involving political torture in Guatemala, with an ending bloodier than most horror flicks. Sleazy and wow-how.





Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989) d. Thompson, J. Lee (USA) (1st viewing)

The story of Bronson’s cop on the trail of a child-prostitution ring is given a twist by splitting time following a Japanese businessman with pedophilic tendencies whose daughter is kidnapped by a ruthless pimp, but the results are more muddled than intriguing. Terrific, extended, jaw-dropping climax set at a harbor loading dock. Thompson's final film.


2014 Totals to date: 58 films, 25 1st time views, 31 horror, 1 cinema

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