Smooth Talk

Smooth Talk (1985)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Joyce Chopra

Starring: Laura Dern, Mary Kay Place, Elizabeth Berridge, Levon Helm, Treat Williams

From: American Playhouse

Another messageboard recommendation.

Last month on a board I won't specifically mention but sometimes do reference in reviews, someone mentioned that they saw and liked this movie. I commented that the film has only been known to me once it was released in HD (first by Olive Films then by Criterion just earlier this year) and its distinctive poster. This person responded that they hoped I liked it; this meant I'd better see it soon rather than leave him hanging. Thus, even though this is totally not in my typical wheelhouse, it was a very good effort which I have no regrets in seeing.

Early in her career Laura Dern plays 15 year old Connie in a small town who has to deal with her budding sexuality, her friends, and the difficult relationship she has with her parents & quite a bit older sister. She's a typical 15 year old (it applies to both boys and girls) who is moody and impulsive; as I've seen such behavior before, it was no surprise that Connie was interested in the older boys at the burger stand which naturally would be a hip hangout in what is not a bustling metropolis. The majority of this is a serious drama where the viewer gets to see the characters interact with each other and try to get along. Of course, in 2021 I snickered at the period music, fashion, and hair. A few minutes was spent at a stereotypical 80's mall and that was a blast for me.

Then again, this also has some James Taylor songs, which is random. Hopefully the average reader of this review will even know who James Taylor is-he's a famous singer most popular in the 70's who had some personal demons but is still touring... then again, Taylor Swift was apparently named after him so perhaps I shouldn't question his Q rating. Perhaps more will be not as familiar with some of the co-stars who I recognized immediately, like Mary Kay Place, Elizabeth Berridge or Levon Helm-hopefully The Last Waltz means that the light bulb will go off & you'll go, “Oh yeah, he's the lead singer of The Band”; Helm had some acting credits.

I do have to be specific about a 20 minute section of the film that is in contrast to the rest; while it would be comforting to think that no one reading this review has experienced such predatory tactics as grooming, but odds are... to be specific, Treat Williams shows up and attempts to groom a 15 year old despite from all appearances being about twice her age. It's a long extended bit and as I understand this exploitation of minors happens far too often, this extended segment made my skin crawl. The cast overall is good as is the production, but Dern and Williams are the highlights & that segment will be the creepiest thing I see all month, no doubt about it. Note that this is based on the Joyce Carol Oates short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, which is said to be based on real life serial killer Charles Schmid, so that's the sort of vibes Friend gave off.  From Wikipedia, the movie changed some things in the adaptation.

Overall it was a searing look at an awkward teenager & her struggles in becoming a woman. To be frank, when I was a teen there were occasions where I acted a fool so Connie can't be demonized by me. Anyhow, perhaps this is why I should step out of my comfort zone-when it comes to motion pictures-more often.

Dawn Of The Dead (The Remake)

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Zack Snyder

Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Pfiifer, Jake Weber, Ty Burrell

From: Universal

A movie I did not know I was seeing until it began. If you're wondering how such a scenario was possible, two times a week this month AMC Theatres is having a “Thrills and Chills” deal where for 5 bucks, horror fans attend a surprise screening where the only hint provided is a runtime and rating. I've never been able to do such a gimmick before so I was interested; of course it was possible that I'd view something not to my tastes-whether or not it had been seen by me before-and I'd love one day to attend something like a New Beverly Cinema secret screening... but this will have to do. I won't be able to attend all of the Thrills and Chills screenings by any means but I'll have to see at least one more of those.

I am such a nerd that from the context clues of seeing Sarah Polley playing a nurse, I knew what this was even though tonight was the first time I had watched the Dawn of the Dead remake. While the original Dawn hasn't been seen by me in eons, I recall that being preferable to this—but that's not to slight the remake. At least it does something different in that it is more about action than having the mall setting be commentary on consumerism. It starts off rather well before getting a collection of random characters together in a mall. Not all of those characters I cared for in the sense that some were just written badly and were unpleasant stereotypes. Furthermore, that scene w/ a Richard Cheese song was a real WTF moment and I am not completely sold on the footage you see in the end credits.

Be that as it may, I still found this to be pretty good overall. Caring about most of the characters did help-I actually did not know beforehand that James Gunn wrote the script so credit has to be given there. These are fast-moving zombies so no surprise that the action scenes are rather frenetic and they were pretty exciting. It has graphic gore, no fear of having harsh/brutal moments and-not surprising for Gunn-a few funny moments. As I understand most of the remakes of a movie in the Dead franchise are rather ghastly (i.e. atrocious)-not to mention how horror remakes turn out in general-it was a relief to see one that did not piss off the genre fans or were pathetic compared to the original.

 

Santo And Blue Demon Against the Monsters

Santo and Blue Demon Against the Monsters (Santo El Enmascardo y Blue DemonContra Los Monstruos) (1970)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: Gilberto Martinez Solares

Starring: Santo, Blue Panther (duh), Ivan J. Rado, Carlos Ancira, Hedi Blue

From: Cinematografica Sotomayor

Never let a zombie drive your car... Frankenstein's monster is OK, though.

As I did last fall, it only seemed right to experience an El Santo creature feature movie and Lord are there many creatures here: a mummy, Frankenstein's monster, a wolfman, a male vampire, two vampire women, a hunchbacked dwarf, zombies, a “cyclops” that was their version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a never-explained creature best described as a sentient walking stone statue about 4 feet high w/ an oversized exposed human brain... I am not kidding about the last thing. Even compared to the others I've seen from the masked man, this had its baffling moments, is incredibly sloppy and at one point could be compared to an Ed Wood production. That said, this was still a campy good time.

Simply, Santo and Blue Demon (another legendary lucha libre wrestler who also has a famous wrestling son that I actually saw wrestle live once a long time ago) must stop an evil scientist revived by the aforementioned dwarf and he wants to take over the world. Of course Santo goes out with the scientist's niece so that's a big reason why he's roped into this. After the monsters are shown raising hell-there's also some filler in what is an 83 minute long movie-there is no shortage of Santo fight scenes and goofy moments. I mean, Frankenstein's monster actually drives a car at one point-even funnier than Michael Myers doing so in the 5th Halloween-and for some reason has facial hair.

This has an easygoing score which may not fit the movie yet it's dope as hell... Santo makes out with his girl in an old Mercedes-Benz convertible while keeping his mask on... and an opening credits sequence where all the monsters appear in a field as they are introduced to the audience. It is B-movie cheese which was appealing to my tastes even with its flaws.

 

Panic Room

Panic Room (2002)

Runtime: 111 minutes

Directed by: David Fincher

Starring: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakam

From: Columbia

I don't always love David Fincher movies but when one is worthwhile...

One day I will do a review or re-review of the Fincher films I don't like as that would be a better time to discuss why I don't swoon over every thing he does like most motion picture buffs do. At least I can say that Zodiac is very good and what happened to him with Alien 3 was a shame as no filmmaker deserved such treatment. Panic Room was actually something watched by me and a pal back in college around 18 years ago; all I remembered was that the pal was not a fan while my opinion was higher. Seeing that this was on HDNet Movies last night inspired me to finally give this a second viewing; thankfully my opinion of this: pretty good.

It has a simple premise of a single mother and young daughter moving into a New York City flat that has the title room. Soon thereafter a trio of unsophisticated thieves attempt to break into that panic room... where mom and daughter have already locked themselves in. Thankfully this isn't as rote or obvious as the scenario would suggest. A talented cast definitely helps... it took a long while after Twilight first came out to realize that it was Kristen Stewart who played Jodie Foster's daughter. The thieves are Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto-with cornrows!-& Dwight Yoakam; a twist is that they are rather lousy burglars who often bicker with each other. As I once saw discussed elsewhere, this is one of those films where you don't remember that Leto is in the cast; for some they forget most of his filmography. BTW, if you want to learn something new about Leto which has the potential to turn real bad-not to mention make the actor/musician appear to be even more rotten than someone who took his Joker role WAY too seriously, look up “Mars Island Cult” on Google...

Anyhow, the small cast was good overall, no matter if one has questionable real life behavior. There was flashy camera work at times although at least it did help establish the geography of the location; much of this is set in a flat that has several stories. Panic Room has a few twists which thankfully were not contrived or stupid. This is the least ambitious movie that Fincher has ever done yet the movie is still slick entertainment which has some laughs, thrills, drama (Stewart's character is a diabetic, after all), intensity, and a pair of LGBTQIA icons. Overall, this was a revisit that was not a waste of time.

Malignant

Malignant (2021) 

76% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 137 reviews)

Runtime: 111 minutes

Directed by: James Wan

Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White, Jean Louisa Kelly

From: New Line Cinema

God Bless James Wan for making something so gonzo and having it released by a major studio.

It took longer than expected but finally, last night I was able to see this in a cinema. Now, once yesterday afternoon ended and the evening began, the rest of the day was rather crappy aside from having a grand old time with this piece of schlock. Now, I can't really argue with those that think the Conjuring Universe is starting to feel familiar, or that Wan's last few horror efforts can be described as formulaic or sharing many similar beats. I dig the first two Conjuring efforts and at least at the time, liked to a lesser extent the Insidious movies he did. This was NOT those movies. Successfully directing Furious 7 (despite the real life tragedy that impacted production) and Aquaman & having both make over a BILLION dollars worldwide must have meant that he had cart blanche to finally go as crazy as he wanted; believe me, it was even crazier than I expected.

For much of the month I've been able to avoid spoilers; all I knew was that the trailer was misleading (then again, how else could you market this), vague references to various genre directors, knowing that the final 20 minutes take a left turn, and such comparisons as giallo, 80's Italian horror, 90's horror, and the nuttiest efforts from 80's Hong Kong. All of that is true, I say. After experiencing this wild thrill ride, no wonder many people rejected it, including some movie buffs. The third act twist is SO unexpected and it becomes increasingly outlandish, you either roll with it and realize this entire exercise was like all the B-movies Wan must have rented from the videostore in the past was put in a blender... or it's too weird for your tastes, which is a valid opinion.

In hindsight, it had a campy tone on purpose so you weren't supposed to take it serious. Usually to me it sounds like a cop-out when done in a modern context but here had to be the case. Furthermore, it may also sound like a cop-out to say that the plot holes and baffling aspects that aren't explained were done on purpose—yet presumably that was the intention. After all, I've said often how baffled I've been by old Italian horror at times... thankfully this production wasn't the “winking at the camera” nonsense that I also don't care for. Personally, it was so wild and yet so well-made (aside from CG that did not always look great; thankfully, a lot of this was actually done practically) and so confident in the direction it goes, I had a lot of fun with this nonsense. Personally, give me this rather than some pretentious “heightened horror”, which typically lets me down; I haven't watched them all by any means but I've seen more than enough to form such an opinion.

As an aside, it has to be said that a key player in this project being brought to screen was Wan's wife, actress Ingrid Bisu; not only did she have a supporting role, but she was a co-writer and one of the executive producers. Bisu came up with the concept of Gabriel (it's based on a 19th century urban legend, believe it or not) and how it moved in that bonkers final act. Suddenly I understand why they are married... she does deserve credit for her role in this movie. Presumably that is also way this is female-centered and a key plot point is the result of domestic abuse.

Malignant has the graphic gore that some thirst for, a bitchin' score that at times sounds like what Goblin would have done in an alternate universe where they formed 40 years later, the expected stylish camera moves from Wan, several interesting setpieces and more. It's for a niche audience so of course many in the mainstream will find it too loony for their tastes; thankfully a scenario happened where a famous director was able to have something THIS gonzo released by a major studio and if nothing else was truly different from what mainstream horror has been for a long time now.

Autumn Sonata

Autumn Sonata (Hostsonaten) (1978)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Ingmar Bergman

Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Bjork, Marianne Aminoff

From: A few different European companies in a few different European countries

Y'know... I need to see even more movies from this Bergman guy.

This was another DVR viewing, recording last week off of Turner Classic Movies when the first night of fall they played films w/ “autumn” in their title. I've seen a few Ingmar Bergman pictures before and they were all at least very good. The high ratings this had plus the talent involved had me intrigued. Besides Ignmar stalwart Liv Ullman, there's Ingrid Bergman... at least at the beginning, many films fans probably confused her with the Swedish director. Not only was it appropriate for them to make a movie together, it was something she wanted to do professionally for a long time. As Ingmar was feuding with the Swedish government over tax issues, he made and filmed this out of his home country... yet it's still in Swedish and features Swedish actors.

At first the plot seems simple enough: The father of Eva (Ullmann) has recently passed away. She and her husband invite her famous concert pianist mom Charlotte (Ingrid) to her house for a few days. The first act establishes that they have a frosty relationship with each other; mom was preoccupied w/ work when Eva was growing up. Then the scab keeps on getting pulled back more and more—and it is shown just how broken things are between them. Both have their personal demons with affect themselves which has a major impact on how they interact with each other. Then there's the fact that Charlotte has another daughter, who is disabled and Eva is the one that takes care of her.

Autumn Sonata is a masterclass in acting; the rest of the small cast is fine but the focus is on the two leads & they are both outstanding in their roles. While I've seen both Ullman and Ingrid in other things, they were never better than the performances they gave here. For a movie that mainly takes place in Eva's house and much of this is shot in close-up, it is enthralling due to the premise, the actors and the director doing such a marvelous job. There's acres of great dialogue and while it is an incredibly bleak movie where a mother and daughter reveal their worst faults to each other and their problems w/ each other are shown to be progressively worse the further in the movie you go... it is so well done and such a movie experience it deserves the highest possible rating from me. The relationship between me and both my parents had some troubles too-at least it was not as fundamentally flawed as what was shown between Eva & Charlotte.

After last night, it is clear to me that I need to watch more from Bergman (both of them) and Ullmann. Even if they won't all be 5 star experiences like this was, those should still be rewarding journeys.

The City Of The Dead

The City of the Dead (1960)

Runtime: 76 minutes

Directed by: John Llewellyn Moxey

Starring: Patricia Jessel, Dennis Lotis, Christopher Lee, Betta St. John, Venetia Stevenson

From: Vulcan Films

Never trust a man who has a stone head for a water faucet.

As mentioned in my last review, this was watched when it played during Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special, Special on Shudder Saturday night. It was in my queue on the site anyhow; that was because it featured Christopher Lee in a supporting and it being an old movie unfamiliar to me which sounded interesting. After that viewing, my suspicions were correct. BTW, those that are familiar w/ Rob Zombie's Dragula will recognize a bit of audio in this.

The movie opens with a scene set in 1692 Massachusetts (a fictional town named Whitewood) where a woman is burned at the stake for being a witch. Unlike the real life Salem Witch Trials, she actually was a witch and yells out a curse. In 1960, a young college student named Nan goes to Whitewood to research a term paper; her professor in the class is Lee. Things go wrong and Nan's friends have to find out why.

Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey-director of many TV shows/movies including the original The Night Stalker that introduced Kolchak-this is “an atmospheric chiller”, as described by Shudder themselves. The black and white photography is perfect for this sort of spooky tale where a gleefully absurd amount of fog is always seen in the vicinity of the village then in Whitewood itself. Seeing Lee at this time of year is a must for me (it won't be the last time either) but the rest of the cast equates themselves rather well. The creepy music, the pulse-pounding ending, the witchcraft theme... this was a pretty good time overall. Just note that if you watch this on Shudder, the page it is on has an image which is a spoiler! It's not a surprising twist yet I wish streaming sites wouldn't do such things for movies that are less well-known and seen than something like The Sixth Sense, y'know?