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Night of the Demons 1988
This was really fun & had everything I want out of a campy 80s horror movie.
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Reminiscence 2021
Like truly a 90's-style artifact: dopey, earnest, slick-looking sci-fi with a 40's noir aesthetic, covered in insanely purple dialogue and with a ruinous voice-over, think DARK CITY or THIRTEENTH FLOOR. Has lines like "The past is a bead on the necklace of time." Absolutely sucks and absolutely goes for it, I can't get mad.
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Maverick 1994
The only movie I wanted to watch when I heard about Richard Donner’s passing (RIP) was Maverick, which is surely not his best film but is definitely the one I’ve seen the most. It aired approximately 1,000,000 times on HBO in the ‘90s, and I watched it every single time. I loved the con artists all conning each other vibe and the chemistry between the three leads. Decades later, I find all of that still intact, along with Donner’s assured, precise direction. (The visual storytelling in the poker scene is so sharp.) A problematic fav now? Sure. But still a favorite.
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The Parallax View 1974
This week I start development work on my first studio movie and it's aiming to be the 2020s version of a film like this or THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. I sincerely hope all the stars align and you get to see it in 2022. If it's half the movie this one is, I'll be pretty dang pleased with myself.
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In the Earth 2021
A Forest in England...
A return to form, back to basics, low budget, atmospheric, horror film for Wheatley, which sounds cool, but is mostly just a step back. Felt like this one was sort of recycling his epilepsy inducing editing and mushroom trip disassociation visual style in this made during the pandemic, 4 actors, everything outside movie. Some nasty stuff, lots of trippy visuals, and a few cool ideas about root networks of trees hosting the brain of a centuries dead necromancer but this one just didn't do it for me.
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Reign of Fire 2002
There's so, so much to like about this. The creature FX are surprisingly solid, there's an unexpected level of warmth to the character interactions, the intrinsic silliness is overwhelmed by a complete lack of irony, and it just looks fantastic, especially the incredible main stronghold exterior set (this additionally being an outstanding last analog gasp for production design). McConaughey is in maybe the earliest instance of his Mega mode. But above all that there's the fact that there are literally…
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The Empty Man 2020
The first hour is so freakin confident and enthralling that I forgave some of the meandering in the middle. Jimmy Badge Dale vs. a less whimsical Babadook, told without cheap jumps or frenzied edits. A perfect 20 minute ghost story opening that practically functions as its own short film. What's not to love!!!! Wish I'd seen it in a theater!!!
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WandaVision 2021
Not sure how it'll breathe on a re-watch - the screenwriters are not dumb, and I'm sure left bread crumbs that will be fun to discover. But my first impression after the second post-credits scene (of course) rolled was: They did it! They figured out how to follow the pace of a Marvel arc or crossover, with different beats than a movie or a normal mini-series.
It became fashionable to love this, then fashionable to hate the people who loved…
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