“Cat People” is a fantasy/horror B movie, directed by Jacques Tourneur. It is one of the films of the period produced by Val Lewton, who has become well-known for his production of these types of films that are a cut above the quality of this sort of film. While “Cat People” has many flaws, it…
“Le Salaire de la Peur” is a French/Italian film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. It is set in a South American village near an oilfield, where a number of white men from various countries have ended up and have been unable to leave due to having no money for plane tickets. The village is very isolated,…
“The Killers” is an excellent film noir, starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, and Edmond O’Brien. It starts with two contract killers who come to a small town to kill a man working at the local gas station. When a friend tries to warn him, he makes no attempt to escape or hide, merely lies on…
“Enter Nowhere” is a supernatural mystery/thriller which stars Katherine Waterston, Scott Eastwood, and Sara Paxton. It begins in a manner that the viewer might feel was generic to the point of derivative – after an opening scene involving Sara Paxton and her character’s boyfriend robbing a store, it then switches to Katherine Waterston wandering through…
What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Something dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber. These words begin “The Devil’s Backbone”. Written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro, this…
Based on the first half of the novel “Dune” by Frank Herbert, this film follows the hero Paul Atreides, from his coming to the planet Arrakis with his family, until the attack by their enemies which leaves Paul’s father dead and Paul and his mother as fugitives with the desert-dwelling Fremen. Arrakis is the only…
We have a mysterious cave. We have a university professor who goes missing while exploring. We have some university students (plus two high-schoolers) who try to find him. And we have time moving at a different rate inside the cave. It’s not a great film, by any stretch. Directing and acting are competent, but certainly…
I really enjoyed “John Wick”. It was a fun action flick and Keanu Reeves was very well cast. The fights were well choreographed and it wisely kept its plot simple and straightforward. Then there was the sequel – starting to get weird, with all this ‘high table’ stuff and introduction of some kind of international…
“The Equalizer 2” came out in 2018, and while this isn’t exactly a review of the film, it had me thinking about the often odd behaviour of bad guys in action flicks. (Disclaimer: my comments are based solely on what seems logical and not on any knowledge of military or secret agent tactics and training).…
When I saw the previous Alien film, “Prometheus” I did not like it, the main reason being that characters who were allegedly professionals acted in very unprofessional ways to advance the plot. It was poor writing, basically. But surely, I said to myself, they wouldn’t make that mistake twice, would they? Yeah, they would. (Warning:…
Eclectic Assemblage 