Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin (2021)

Runtime: 99 long minutes

Directed by: William Eubank

Starring: Emily Bader, Roland Buck III, Dan Lippert, Jaye Ayres-Brown, Tom Nowicki

From: Paramount Players/Blumhouse

This isn’t MY Paranormal Activity!

Truth be told, there are lists I’ve created on Letterboxd where I discuss franchises-and those lists will forever be incomplete because it’s been determined by me that viewing those installments would just be infuriate me by (among other things) totally waste my time. As I know I’m the only one who really cares about such things, that’s why it’s not a big deal.

In hindsight, there was no need to see this unrelated sequel which involves no characters from the preceding movies, paranormal or not. A young lady named Margot is followed by a truly unendurable dude named Chris (and a random sound dude whose distinguishing traits are “he’s awkwardly annoying” and “he’s really tall”) who film her finding the family that abandoned her at a hospital as a baby. I don’t categorize this as found footage; many moments break that illusion. Even if it was… this motion picture set at an Amish community-I suppose this community won’t complain too hard if you make a bad movie filled with dumb, irritating characters where their sect is involved w/ demons.

Even if this was called Next of Kin and did not have the Paranormal Activity name attached to it, this movie would be bad. I’m glad it’s not just Next of Kin, if only because there’s two much better films from the 80’s w/ that title… either the slow-burn Aussie thriller from 1982, or the movie from ’89 where Patrick Swayze, Bill Paxton, and Liam Neeson are a trio of hillbilly siblings (!) from Appalachia. There are some moments that aren’t bad and the snowy landscape of rural New York State provides some nice scenery.

Otherwise, this movie was just lame and besides not following the found footage format AND added in unnecessary jump scare noises (no, really), they couldn’t even be arsed to set up a camera to film events at night when everyone’s sleeping. Your feelings on the Paranormal Activity are almost irrelevant, except that you’d likely be even more offended. As is, while I know some out there enjoyed the film, personally I couldn’t recommend it to anyone.

 

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension Revisited

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension is a Christmas movie.

Boy, this movie was not as good as the (limited release) theatrical 3D showing from a decade ago. It was a random path I took for me to suddenly realize that the majority who hated the film were likely right & thus a viewing at home in 2D would change my opinion—this was true, and I am someone who enjoyed all of them except the 4th installment.

As explained before, the first Paranormal Activity is one I’ll always have a soft spot for. It was a movie championed on a long-defunct podcast a full two years before it came out. The early screening in Orlando will forever be an all-timer: evidently, I was one of the few at the sold-out showing who knew anything beforehand… the first act, people were laughing and scoffing at the film. Once the scares happened—the mood drastically changed, and the crowd was terrified.

Ever since then, I enjoyed seeing most of the sequels on the big screen, even if the crowd experience w/ those was never as incredible as the first movie. Yeah, the story for the franchise was clearly made up on the fly with each movie-no way could Oren Peli have predicated this would receive five sequels. At home, what a goofy movie this is. Yeah, they tried for meta commentary at times and the family we follow feature a goofy pair of brothers that drink Pabst Blue Ribbon, get stoned and have facial hair, including one sporting a pornstache!

Still, this is a motion picture where this family find a souped-up 80’s camcorder custom-built with six lenses and this allows them (alongside the viewer) to “see spirits,” meaning swirly shapes. That is goofy-not to mention how they found VHS tapes of another family at the house. Otherwise, it felt familiar as Tobi the spirit-yes, that’s the official canon spelling, not Toby- targets the little girl of the family-the types of scares also felt old hat by this point when the movie wasn’t utterly preposterous. There is a franchise resolution of sort, although even a decade ago I was like the mainstream in thinking it wasn’t entirely satisfying for a series that involved witches, cults, time travel, and general weirdness.

For all the flaws contained in Ghost Dimension, I still don’t hate the movie-blame my affinity and connection with the franchise. For better or for worse, it popularized the found footage genre, a trend (or plague, depending on your tastes) popular for years. In my original review for Ghost Dimension, the purported claims of this being the finale were met somewhat skeptically by me. Of course, there was a standalone sequel that gave off the stench of “it has hardly anything to do w/ the rest of the series” so that’s why I never gave Next of Kin a chance. Will curiosity ultimately win me over in the future?

Night of the Juggler, Revisited

This is a cult classic from 1980 that I reviewed over a decade ago; finally, I watched the restored 4K version that I bought on disc two months ago: 

Finally, I watched the 4K disc I’ve had of this film for the past two months. Night of the Juggler I first learned about many years ago via a messageboard-in fact, it was seen and reviewed by me almost 11 years ago already. At the time, everyone only had VHS rips or rips off of rare cable TV airings—for reasons still unknown to me, until Kino Lorber this year, Juggler never made it to the disc era. There certainly were rumors-including that the rights were owned by a soap company (?!) and they prevented release. No matter the truth, the UHD quality sure beat the initial viewing.

The movie is as loud and chaotic as its hot summer day New York City setting. James Brolin is a working blue-collar man (truck driver) who is an ex-cop; he has an ex-wife but still loves his daughter Kathy, who is celebrating her 13th birthday that day. Kathy is kidnapped by a psychopath after being mistaken for the daughter of a rich property developer who purportedly ruined his South Bronx childhood neighborhood.

Brolin’s Sean Boyd witnesses the kidnapping-his rage meter runs hot for hours-the movie is one set during a long day and night. A particularly wild scene is early on-Boyd hops in a cab driven by an OOT Puerto Rican. Sure, that character’s portrayed by a young Mandy Patinkin (decidedly not of Puerto Rican heritage) but that part was hysterical and his screentime was brief. There’s car chases, foot chases, carjackings, fights, stabbings, brawls, etc. in a vibrant New York City. Shooting on vacation was a key asset in bringing character to this film. Another colorful character was Dan Hedaya, playing even more of a Hedaya-esque character than typical. Various different ethnicities are shown & the finale takes place during a salsa concert in Central Park.

Sure, the movie has moments and lines definitely of a “politically incorrect” nature 45 years after the fact-including racial slurs-but that’s the vibes of the film. Boyd (who limps for part of the film because Brolin broke his foot during filming) feels he can’t trust the typical NYC law enforcement, instead relying on people like street-smart Julie Carmen. One of my favorite aspects is seeing the bad New York City of old; well, plenty of that is on display, from Bronx locations that look like a warzone to the adult establishments that used to fill Manhattan.

Night of the Juggler is wildly entertaining, often fast-paced and a product of its time in the best ways. The main cast was quite enjoyable, not just Brolin as the loving albeit loose cannon father who delivers a great physical performance. Cliff Gorman was suitably creepy as villain Gus Soltic-in another sign this was from the past, his relationship with Kathy becomes what I’ll deem “increasingly inappropriate.” He does have a somewhat wise scheme to get the ransom money-the film also has a somewhat credible path for Sean to follow to find his daughter in such a populated area. Thankfully there’s Richard S. Castellano as a Lieutenant who is gruff yet is a cop who attempts to do his job right.

The special features haven’t been dived into yet; the presumption is that there will be an explanation as to why the movie was first filmed by Sidney J. Furie but was replaced by Robert Butler. In any event, if the description sounds enticing and tasty for your palette, Night of the Juggler is well worth a viewing.

 

Marathon Man

Marathon Man (1976)

Runtime: 125 minutes

Directed by: John Schlesinger

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller

From: Paramount

This seemed like the sort of paranoid 70’s thriller that should have been viewed long ago by me… it was. Turner Classic Movies played the film last night-it seemed the right time to finally pull the trigger-or perhaps I should say, “Start the dentist’s drill.” Through cultural osmosis and being a movie fan, I did know the movie’s most (in)famous scene-it involves a horrifying version of dentistry. Well, it was two scenes but Marathon Man should be remembered for more than those moments.

Dustin Hoffman is a marathon runner who is on the immature side, especially compared to his older “He has a secret job with the federal government” brother Roy Scheider. I won’t reveal how an old Jewish man having a road rage incident in New York City resulting in a fiery crash relates to the brothers or why Nazi war criminal Laurence Olivier (hiding in Uruguay for decades) left the country for America. I will say that it’s after Watergate-you probably shouldn’t be surprised at the movie’s characterization of the government or who works for them.

What enticed me was my affinity for such films and the cast-there’s also William Devane, Fritz Weaver for a few scenes, Richard Bright, & this movie included, the rare occasions I’ve seen Marthe Keller, she’s done a fine job.

What won me over is the thought-provoking plot where the brothers deal with the grief of losing their father young due to McCarthyism and false accusations of Communism, the explanation of why Hoffman’s “Babe” became a long-distance runner (which naturally is useful for him in a scene), the period cinematography & score, the intensity throughout-whether an undercurrent or boiling over-the views of New York City & Paris in the 70’s, the maturation of Babe throughout the picture. There are also some grand moments I was impressed by which I dare not spoil.

Hoffman’s performance is quality-but so is Olivier, and Sir Laurence had to deal with serious health problems at the time—you couldn’t tell on screen. Famously, there are rumors that the two leads argued with each other over acting techniques, Dustin famous for method acting. Hoffman allegedly stayed up for a few days because his character did so… Olivier allegedly retorted, “Why don’t you try acting?” Evidently, Laurence was just ribbing because Ol’ Dustin had a hard night of partying.

In any case, if you dig the thrillers from this decade and are intrigued by the Jewish angle, Marathon Man is well worth checking out.

Ernest Saves Christmas

Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: John R. Cherry III

Starring: Jim Varney, Douglas Seale, Oliver Clark, Noelle Parker, Billie Bird

From: Touchstone Pictures

I’m glad this film featured an actor named NOELLE and the score was from Mark SNOW.

Yes, this was a movie I saw as a child-although not as often as Ernest Goes to Camp-although this was the first time as an adult. One reason for me to view this movie as someone who’s lived near Orlando for the past 21 ½ years: the movie was set & filmed in O-Town.

What I didn’t recall: this movie was even more juvenile and silly than Camp. Two adult men don’t know the difference between “M” and “V,” for example. Yet, I shouldn’t get too critical about a good-hearted lead character in a family film where Santa Claus (he is happy to admit his identity) goes to Orlando to hire his replacement: a now-unemployed children’s TV show host named Joe. The original Orlando Science Center (used as a children’s museum) closed down before I moved here but I recognized various locations… Orlando International Airport, Church Street Station, downtown, etc. None of those businesses downtown are still around, unsurprisingly.

As an adult, yes some moments play differently than with a kid. Ernest is so goofy and asexual, perhaps I shouldn’t question him hanging out 24/7 with a teenage runaway girl who looked about the age of 16… what I did not remember was the number of the taxicab Ernest drove-yes, that was his blue-collar job. That number was… 69!!! No lie-I suppose that was a joke for the adults!

Like I said, the movie is incredibly silly-yet Ernest Save Christmas is still good-hearted (featuring more than one nice message) and for me, it was nice to see a classically-trained actor like Jim Varney don various disguises along the way to assist Jolly Old St. Nick. Plus, there were laughs along the way. Unlike in Camp, there’s a scene where the title character speaks to Vern. That’s a reference to the commercials Ernest originally appeared in-he always spoke to the camera as if it was the unseen character speaks to a neighbor named Vern.

I fear the charm of this movie will be lost on those who are younger than middle-aged me (such as those who weren’t even alive when Jim Varney was-he passed away in February, 2000). However, if you’re around my age and saw those Ernest films during your youth, with any luck an adult viewing won’t ruin any childhood memories. As for the Mark Snow score… it was fine but he (who passed away just a few months ago) is best known for creating The X-Files theme, something I’ll always give him credit for.

Black Widow (Not That One... Not Even the 80's Film)

Black Widow (1954)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Nunnally Johnson

Starring: Van Heflin, Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, George Raft, Peggy Ann Garner

From: 20th Century Fox 

Where’s Scarlett Johansson?

Due to my schedule the rest of the month, there may be other days other than yesterday where nothing is reviewed by me-thus, while I had the time/inclination to, I wanted to watch at least one more film noir during Noirvember… despite the usage of 2.55:1 Cinemascope and color film, me and others still consider this film noir.

In New York City, Van Heflin is a famed Broadway producer who attends a fancy soiree-hosted by Ginger Rogers-filled w/ people he doesn’t know. On the balcony (w/ an awesome backdrop) he meets a 20-year-old struggling writer. Despite being married to Gene Tierney, others think that the relationship between the two is more than just “she uses his apartment during the day to write.” Things become more complicated once a death occurs, including the revelation of various secrets.

The cast had some other familiar faces, such as George Raft and Otto Kruger. As the struggling writer, Peggy Ann Garner (a former child star who at least in this film, strongly resembled 80's-era Diane Franklin) was memorable in her part. The cast was an asset in presenting this entertaining yarn. There are further points to its credit: the sets look quality, as does the backdrops of the NYC skyline that are seen via looking out at balconies or out the floor to ceiling windows.

Furthermore, for an aspect ratio that was brand-new to the world of cinema, Black Widow was framed rather well. It also allowed for multiple characters to appear in a scene at the same time-that device was also used well. This is why Black Widow-while not top-tier by any means-might be worthwhile for the noir fans.

General Thoughts on The Three Stooges

Besides posting the completed list here of all 190 shorts, here is what I ultimately wrote in the description accompanying the list: 

Now that I’ve seen all 190 of their shorts at Columbia within the same calendar year, I’ll offer some thoughts in the description. Of course, their slapstick humor isn’t for all tastes; if you view two of their four public domain shorts (Curly’s Disorder in the Court & Shemp’s Brideless Groom) and don’t like either, then the Stooges just aren’t for your tastes.

There were many talented performers who worked on these short movies, whether in front or behind the camera. Moe, Larry, and Shemp worked in vaudeville for years; Shemp left the act due to the alleged abuse from their leader, Ted Healy. Moe and Shemp’s brother Curly replaced him and was a natural talent without any formal training. They then broke away from Ted and stayed at Columbia for almost a quarter-century.

The Curly era has the highest batting average for sure-everyone was younger, there’s almost 100 shorts and many that are at least very good. Sadly, Columbia didn’t give Curly enough time to recover once he started having health issues. That impacted Curly for at least the last two years of shorts released during his time as the third man. The Shemp era was hampered by Columbia pinching pennies and the proliferation of remakes with typically too much stock footage… even so, there are a few classics and plenty of worthwhile entries involving him. The whole Fake Shemp thing-what an insult to the Stooges, especially the late Shemp.

Joe Besser wasn’t the first choice as a replacement to close out the era before the entire shorts department shut down at the studio. Arguably, Joe not being the best fit wasn’t as bad as the studio becoming even cheaper and creating goofier stories, along with Moe and Larry having to deal with becoming old men.

As a kid, I naturally dug the Stooges being themselves and others up. As an adult, I also appreciate the large variety of different settings they were in, how they were often in blue-collar jobs and always portrayed the dopey versions of the common man, happy to skewer such targets as the rich and those positions of authority. No wonder they were popular in the past. They also had many hilarious routines and bits-plenty were brought back but modified so they did not feel hackneyed. There were peaks and valleys during this long odyssey-many I was happy to visit or revisit. C3 Entertainment (who owned the intellectual property) have a presence on social media & YouTube; the Stooges still have some popularity and at least in America, all 190 shorts are easy to track down.

After Columbia, of course they added Curly Joe because Joe left to care for his ailing wife. She survived and both lived until the late 1980’s. They did live-action segments for The New Three Stooges cartoon show and some live-action movies they starred in (both I also saw as a little kid) along with live appearances everywhere. Old age/strokes suffered by Moe and Larry derailed the act in 1970 after almost 50 years. I’ll talk about that more sometime in the future but that likely won’t be anytime soon.