Spirits of the Dead

Spirits of the Dead (Histoires Extraordinares) (1968)

Runtime: 121 minutes

Directed by: Roger Vadim/Louis Malle/Federico Fellini

Starring: Terence Stamp (a belated RIP), Brigitte Bardot (just departed but I probably shouldn’t say “RIP” about them), Jane & Peter Fonda, Alain Delon

From: A few different French and Italian companies

A belated RIP to Terence Stamp… but perhaps I shouldn’t say “RIP” to Brigitte Bardot. I hate to make that statement but long before her death I know the controversies swirling over Bardot. No, not her campaigning for animal rights, which I support except when it’s extreme, and Bardot appeared to be fanatical concerning the topic. Rather, it’s her far-right beliefs and how many different “phobics” she has made public.

Without sparking any fiery arguments in the comments or otherwise cause an uproar, to list some examples, Bardot was against “race mixing” and has made hateful comments towards people that practice Islam… many here likely will vehemently disagree with her beliefs so the best I can do is say I feel bad for her fans, family, and friends. It’s a shame her legacy is even more complicated than typical for an old celebrity.

At the end I’ll tip my cap to Stamp, who passed away in August and I don’t know any controversies surrounding him. I saw this on the Criterion Channel; a surprise was that the print on the platform was DVD quality, if that. Has it ever been restored? That print is also the original and not the dubbed English print where none other than Vincent Price was the narrator.

I almost saw this during Spooky Season back in the fall; three legendary European directors (who I haven’t seen enough of, the entire trio) adapting obscure Edgar Allan Poe stories for an anthology sounded intriguing, even if like all anthologies the stories varied in quality. That was especially evident in the opening segment involving Jane and Peter Fonda where those real-life siblings portrayed cousins and Jane was enamored with her cousin…

Metzengerstein is hopefully a better story than what was portrayed here. On film, this was just dreadful-not to mention, dreadfully boring-and not entertaining to watch a rich crazy lady act repugnant nonstop. Between this and Barbarella wildly vacillating in quality & only succeeding in 60’s kitsch, there isn’t much inspiration to do a deeper dive into Roger Vadim’s filmography.

An improvement was Malle’s segment, William Wilson. Alain Delon has a doppelganger, and Bardot (this is the first time I’d ever seen her act, believe it or not) I guess was fine in her supporting part, although her wearing a black wig was unusual. This was more interesting, due to Wilson being a total heel from childhood to his adult life… I mean, “evil” is perhaps a more apt term. There isn’t much motivation to see more from Bardot despite her passing-no offense to her fans. She mainly plays what seemed like a never-ending card game w/ Wilson. I’m sure she’s a better actress than what she showed here.

Many-though not all-believe the finale was the highlight; I’d have to agree that Fellini’s Toby Dammit was by far the most interesting to me, due to Fellini’s direction and Stamp’s performance as the eponymous character. He’s an alcoholic actor in Rome who accepts a role for a SWEET Ferrari 330 LMB. Unlike the somnambulistic qualities of the first two segments, Dammit enthralled me. It’s by far the most interesting visually, the surreal touches, the imagery throughout, the score, the satirical moments, the identity of Satan… it was like I was awake again. Toby Dammit (which was just fun for me) can be found separately on the Criterion Channel and other places-and some will argue that’s the only segment you should tackle, me included.

This was a nice way to tip my cap to the late Terence Stamp. Sadly, I haven’t seen nearly enough from this talented actor. As a child of the 80’s and 90’s, I’ll forever know him best as General Zod. Despite knowing of various worthwhile roles he had for years, I never gave them a shot while Stamp was alive. Alas, I can view some of his films in ’26 with a Letterboxd audience that increases by the day. Also, I don’t know how many need recommendations that the Fellini films 8 ½, La Strada, and Nights of Cabiria should be watched by serious film fans, but that’s an opinion I have. Seeing more from him should also be done in 2026.

8MM

8MM (1999)

Runtime: 123 minutes

Directed by: Joel Schumacher

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, Anthony Heald

From: Columbia

This motion picture belongs in the category of “movie I saw soon after it came out on VHS, but never again until this second viewing now.” 8MM I recalled as something I liked despite the rather morbid subject matter-as 2025 is coming to a close, the movie can receive a nice rating despite the plot description of “private detective Nicolas Cage investigates what looks like a fake snuff film but is actually a snuff film.”

Grim, the film is. However, it isn’t so miserable and wallowing in depravity that the experience is a turn-off or was a grueling experience. This is from the writer of Se7en, to give a hint as to the tone. He is asked by a rich old widow to investigate an 8mm film her late husband hid in a safe. As Cage’s Tom has a wife and infant daughter at home, of course such a dark journey into illegal and gross pornography (or otherwise intense, given the S&M angle) would take a toll on him as he discovers the teen girl Mary Anne was murdered on film.

A quality cast was a huge asset for 8MM: Cage, Joaquin Phoenix as porn store clerk MAX CALIFORNIA, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare, Catherine Keener as Tom’s wife, Anthony Heald, and briefly, Norman Reedus. This had to be the first time I’d ever see Reedus in anything. As this was a Joel Schumacher production that evidently had a $40 million budget but did not lose money at the box office, of course 8MM looked professional and wasn’t incompetent. Cage does do some yelling (Cage Rage) although it’s fitting for the particular scene and he wasn’t constantly OOT, delivering a quality performance.

Movies of this tone usually aren’t viewed by me; however, I was glad to finally revisit a picture I’ve thought of revisiting for a long while. I do know that there’s a 2005 direct to video sequel that of course only became a sequel because Sony bought the flick during production. Also of course, judging by hearsay the sequel isn’t that good, so I needn’t bother. In 2025, I can appreciate all the then-modern Sony devices throughout.

Moon

Moon (2009)

Runtime: 97 minutes

Directed by: Duncan Jones

Starring: Most of the time, it’s just Sam Rockwell and the voice of… Kevin Spacey

From: Sony Pictures Classics

I finally saw this movie after all the praise it’s earned over the past 16 years… due to messageboard discussion concerning Paul Rudd?! Someone in a thread mentioned how aside from his work in the Wet Hot American Summer movies, they only like certain moments from him when he’s in high-profile projects. I haven’t seen enough from him to judge for myself. Someone else mentioned Mute; only later did they elaborate that it was a change of pace for him… that didn’t turn out well. I then mentioned that much to my shame, I never stepped onto the rocket ship and gave Moon a chance despite its lofty praise. Well, that was enough for me to finally blast off.

Now, I realize even more than before what a fool I was for not giving the first movie of Duncan Jones a chance. Is he in Director Jail because the reaction to Warcraft and Mute wasn’t great? I’ll talk about that more at the end of the review but there isn’t much info on where he’s been all those years. A shame, as this was quite assured and confident for a debut. Much of the movie is Sam Rockwell alone on the Moon, creating energy for Earth. Whether or not the scheme presented in this version of the future is even feasible, I’d have to ask Neil DeGrasse Tyson…

Most of the movie is Rockwell’s Sam and his AI robot; yeah, I’m able to separate the art from the artist here despite the robot voice being provided by Kevin Spacey. Perhaps in ’09 I’d question a plot element or two, including the usage of AI robots on the Moon with only one human present. A few days away from 2026 beginning, I have no trouble believing a corporation would do such a thing in the future. Whether or not they should is up to you. Sam is contracted to work on the Moon for three full years-he does so despite having a wife & young daughter back on Earth.

I’ll be vague on the rest of the details as that’s especially important in this case and I was mostly spoiler-free all these years. I was happy about a modest-budget sci-fi movie with a small cast-thankfully for Moon, Rockwell nailed his role-nice practical sets, mature thought-provoking ideas, a nice score from Clint Mansell, and the vibes of science fiction cinema from decades past. Of course, GERTY the robot will remind you of HAL 9000 but so many have been inspired by 2001, it’s not a big deal for me. In addition, this reminded me of a sci-fi movie made after 2009 which has been seen by me and I wasn’t a fan-I can phrase it that way as longtime viewers will know that can apply to more than one science fiction movie made in the past 16 years!

While this should have been reviewed long ago, on the other side of the coin now I have a larger audience on Letterboxd that can read my high recommendation of the film. If you love mature sci-fi that isn’t focused on the action and instead want to see and think about cerebral story, give Moon a shot. As for why Duncan Jones hasn’t made a movie since 2018’s Mute… that’s still uncertain. Evidently, all this time he’s wanted to bring the comic book character Rogue Trooper to screen but that hasn’t happened. When your late father was David Bowie, I suppose working for a paycheck isn’t a chief concern.

 

The Flying Deuces

The Flying Deuces (1939)

Runtime: 69 minutes-heh heh

Directed by: A. Edward Sutherland 

Starring: Laurel & Hardy, Jean Parker, Reginald Gardiner, Charles Middleton

From: RKO

It’s been awhile (a little over a year) since viewing any Laurel & Hardy; as this is one of their most popular efforts on Letterboxd-at least in terms of views-that’s why this was selected even if there are Laurel & Hardy pictures that have higher ratings on this site.

The duo are in Paris; Hardy is in love w/ the daughter of an innkeeper. In fact, he has a ring to propose marriage-lamentably for him, this Georgette already is married. Hardy decides to take his own life; no worries, that isn’t in bad taste as you might fear. When that scene is awfully reminiscent of that millionaire attempting to commit suicide by jumping into a river… the scenario is funny if a little morbid. A member of the French Foreign Legion convinces them to join his service; of course, that gig isn’t as carefree as they naively assumed.

Perhaps I enjoy The Flying Deuces more than some-personally, laughter was frequent. From Laurel constantly banging his head against the angled roof of their room to the constant witty repartee of the duo, the hilarity of their feud w/ their commandant Charles Middleton (i.e. Ming from the Flash Gordon serials) & the finale which reveals why the title is The Flying Deuces… I had a lot of fun.

Yes, there are two random musical numbers-the latter is comedic in nature but the former is a serious song and dance bit which was odd yet at least was presented decently-and only afterwards did I discover this was a partial remake of 1931’s 4-reeler Beau Hunks, starring the duo w/ Middleton also portraying their commandant. Comedies of this flavor typically resonate rather well; if I was smart, Laurel & Hardy would become more regular in my rotation. There’s plenty that sounds interesting, including the latter days of their career.

The Original Black Christmas, Revisited

Merry Christmas, everyone… or Happy Holidays, whichever one you prefer. I’ll announce now that there will be no review posted by me on Christmas itself. I’ll likely watch Die Hard but I already have three reviews of that posted on Letterboxd and a 4th isn’t really needed. I might also view other films that don’t need additional reviews either. However, I hadn’t seen the OG Black Christmas in years and I was happy to review this again-even if my opinions are the same as in the first review.

The film is still a Canuxploitation classic, a progenitor to the slasher genre, and a quality horror film all wrapped up w/ a bow on top. The film follows the members of a sorority in Canada who are not only harassed by an extremely creepy obscene phone caller who says the most vile comments that can’t be repeated here, a weirdo has entered and hides in their sorority house. For those that identify as female, if the idea of a gross man saying vile things to you on the phone isn’t blood-curdling, some man hiding in your house and committing murders will be.

What I seem to always forget about Black Christmas: how hilarious it can be. I’ll never forget Margot Kidder’s Barb, the blunt alcoholic who offered the film’s most hysterical moments. However, the house mother’s also an alcoholic and especially in the first half, I laughed often. There’s even a bumbling cop-insert your own pithy comment if you wish. That said, when there’s drama and horror, the film succeeds with the chilling atmosphere, the memorable characters, the brutal kills, the 70’s wood paneling, the measured pacing, the eerie score from Carl Zittrer.

Viewing this made me remember that I never tipped my cap to the late Olivia Hussey, who a few days from now passed away one year ago. While only a few of her movies have been tackled by me, I’ve never had a beef with her and she was arguably the highlight as the lead who not only had to deal with being terrorized, but she has a problem w/ her boyfriend Keir Dullea and isn’t afraid to stand up for her feminist rights. The rest of the cast is fine, including Art Hindle and the great John Saxon.

What is especially appreciated now when compared to modern films in general: the ambiguity, the plot points that aren’t fully explained. Those moments left a mystery arguably makes the picture more petrifying. The movie is a horror classic even if you divorce the impact Black Christmas had on the genre and only focus on the plot that unfurled on screen. The ending was a punch to the gut, in the best ways.

The 2006 remake and the 2019 remake are both bad films even if they would have had different names and no connection to the 1974 movie. The OG Black Christmas, on the other hand, I was happy to witness again-even if the picture isn’t a cheery, heartwarming affair full of mirth. Again, I’ll wish everyone a non-denominational Happy Holidays.

Kin-Dza-Dza!

Kin-Dza-Dza! (1986)

Runtime: 132 minutes

Directed by: Georgiy Daneliya

Starring: Stanislav Lyubshin, Levan Gabriadze, Yury Yakovlev, Yevgeny Leonov, Nikolai Garo

From: Mosfilm

“A Soviet comedy” turned out better than you might expect. For years I’ve known of this sci-fi comedy film; as Arrow recently added it to their streaming service via Deaf Crocodile (I’d be happy if they added more releases from the Deaf Crocodile label) last night felt the time to finally give the movie a shot, despite the long length of over 2 hours.

I was worried how the comedy popular in a Communist country would translate to a modern capitalist heathen like myself. To “borrow” a phrase, this is “Mad Max meets Monty Python by way of Tarkovsky.” Apparently, fans of Kurt Vonnegut might also dig this. A middle-aged dude named Vladimir Mashkov (not the Russian actor who was in Behind Enemy Lines and Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol) and a young Georgian named Gedevan Alexidze randomly meet each other as they interact w/ an old guy claiming to be an alien. Hysterically, he says he stole clothing from a bum as if was Kyle Reese!

The alien has a teleportation device but doesn’t know how to give home. The two Soviets of course don’t believe him-Vladimir presses a button and suddenly both Vladimir and Gedevan are on the planet Pluke in the Kin-Dza-Dza galaxy. What follows is wacky absurd humor as they meet a pair of odd dudes and discover the planet’s language is one where most words are pronounced as “Groot”… er, I mean “Koo”, it’s a post-apocalyptic desert planet (most of this was filmed in Turkmenistan, i.e. a country that’s had a horrible human rights record since the fall of the Soviet Union but that’s not germane to the conversation) where matchsticks are currency and other oddities won’t be spoiled by me. I can say that the violin Gedevan has-which isn’t even his, but long story-was used as the power of music means the same across the universe.

Soviet/Russian cinema until last night was best-known to me for the Tarkovsky films & Come and See. There are other genres I’ve checked out but at least in the case of Dza, the wacky absurd comedy stylings did entertain me. Terry Gilliam is another comparison I heard, specifically Brazil. I now understand why this oddity is a cult film around the world and was (is?) still popular in Russia/the surrounding environs.

January and perhaps 2026 in general, I hope to have at least a bit more variety in what is viewed/reviewed. More documentaries, foreign films from the likes of Russia-including comedies-various oddities, etc. Thank goodness Kin-Dza-Dza! translated well to a 2025 capitalist pig like myself.

Have Rocket, Will Travel, Revisited

Now was the time to see The Three Stooges during their Curly Joe era. As I saw all 190 of their shorts at Columbia during 2025, it felt right to see the first time Curly Joe DeRita was part of the Stooges. After the shorts department at Columbia shut down and the Stooges were unceremoniously fired, Joe Besser left the act due to his wife’s health. DeRita was hired as he was also a veteran comedian who’d been around for decades. He shaved his head to accentuate his faint resemblance to Curly. The Stooges became popular on television so Columbia decided to capitalize by making this movie, using the sci-fi genre as those pictures were also popular at the time.

I now appreciate Have Rocket, Will Travel more than in the past now having seen all their routines on film from 1934 to 1959. Of course, the movie’s a silly affair where the trio have the blue-collar job of “maintenance men in this universe’s version of NASA.” Like with the attempts at exploring outer space at the time, many failures occurred. A rocket crashed right by where the Stooges lived. They do the nice thing and attempt to help Norwegian scientist Anna-Lisa (a pretty blonde from Norway) before the entire affair is shut down. They attempt to create better rocket fuel, and like what would commonly happen in their shorts, they accidentally succeeded.

As they were victims of circumstance (i.e. victims of soicumstance) they end up on the rocket as it lifts off and lands on Venus, where bizarre sights are seen & heard-including a kaiju-sized tarantula -along with villains that create robot duplicates of the Stooges. Me, I was happy to see modifications of old routines, along with new ones such as the boys dealing w/ the lack of gravity in space. Uncommon but not unheard of: Moe, Larry, & Curly Joe sing! Yes, it was the film’s theme song.

Ultimately, DeRita acclimated himself rather quickly to the role of Third Stooge, the movie felt more alive than too many of their shorts the last few years at Columbia, the rehashing of such ideas as “The Stooges poke fun at high society” didn’t feel hackneyed, and the movie was an easy 75-minute watch. I’ll only watch those movies on rare occasions yet it was nice to see the boys after viewing all 190 of their shorts in 2025. Of course Rocket wasn’t a classic like their best shorts from the glory days; at the same time, the movie still entertained me.

As a sidenote, I can’t speak for the public appearances the trio did all the way to 1970-when both Moe and Larry experienced failing health-but this was the last time an eyepoke was done by the Stooges in a film. Evidently, parents carped loudly that their children were poking each other without the foreknowledge of how the Stooges did it without injury.