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Frank's Movie Log

My life at the movies.

  1. Coherence 2013

    B: 4 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by James Ward Byrkit. Starring Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon, and Elizabeth Gracen.

    As a comet arcs across the night sky, a woman talks to her boyfriend on her cellular while parking her car outside a friend’s house. She’s arriving for a dinner party. Before she can finish the conversation, her phone’s glass screen cracks in her hand and the phone goes dead. She enters the party and relates the strange occurrence. Other guests arrive. Wine and stories flow. Then a blackout. The entire neighborhood sits dark save a house a few blocks up the street. Two guests venture out. Weirdness begets mystery, which begets existential horror. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    02 Feb 2023
  2. Soft & Quiet 2022

    C+: 3 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Beth de Araújo. Starring Stefanie Estes, Olivia Luccardi, Dana Millican, and Melissa Paulo.

    A woman chairs a meeting of like-minded women. Afterwards, some attendees stop at a local market for wine. A chance encounter escalates to confrontation and a series of dreadful choices. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    19 Jan 2023
  3. The Menu 2022

    B: 4 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Mark Mylod. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, and Hong Chau.

    A young couple dine at Hawthorn, the restaurant of reclusive chef Julian Slowik. It sits on a private island, charges $1250 a head and serves twelve customers a night. But what begins as a traditional fine-dining experience grows more confrontational. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    19 Jan 2023
  4. Saw 3D 2010

    D+: 2 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Kevin Greutert. Starring Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, and Cary Elwes.

    It was a good run. Since the original Saw, a sequel every year for six years. Each trying—with varying degrees of success—to serialize a single labyrinthine story. I applaud the effort. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    14 Jan 2023
  5. Possession 1981

    A: 5 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Andrzej Zulawski. Starring Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, and Heinz Bennent.

    Possession is about the bitter dissolution of a marriage. There are… other elements, but we’ll get to them later. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    13 Jan 2023
  6. Freddy vs. Jason 2003

    D: 2 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Ronny Yu. Starring Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger, Kelly Rowland, and Monica Keena.

    Following the events of Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, Freddy Krueger languishes in hell, forgotten by the children of Springwood. To rekindle their fear, Freddy resurrects Jason Voorhees and unleashes him on Springwood. As the bodies pile up, the town’s older residents fear Freddy has returned. This fear feeds Freddy, returning him to full strength, but he finds reigning in Jason a challenge, leading to a battle of the monsters. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    13 Jan 2023
  7. The Falcon Takes Over 1942

    F: 1 star (out of 5)

    Directed by Irving Reis. Starring George Sanders, Lynn Bari, James Gleason, and Allen Jenkins.

    The screen’s first Raymond Chandler adaptation. It takes the setup and principal characters of Chandler’s novel, Farewell, My Lovely, transplants the location to New York City, substitutes gentleman detective Gay Laurence (aka The Falcon), played by George Sanders, for Philip Marlowe, and grafts on a pair of sidekicks. The result underwhelms. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    09 Jan 2023
  8. Nobody 2021

    B+: 4 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Ilya Naishuller. Starring Bob Odenkirk, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen, and Christopher Lloyd.

    The deleted scenes reveal the sequence involving the National Archives employee began as a post-credits tag. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    06 Jan 2023
  9. The Lawless Frontier 1934

    D: 2 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Robert N. Bradbury. Starring John Wayne, Sheila Terry, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Jack Rockwell, Jay Wilsey, and Yakima Canutt.

    The Watch TCM print lacks the synthesized score dubbed onto most distributions.

    Watched on
    07 Nov 2022
  10. The Big Steal 1949

    B-: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Don Siegel. Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix, and Patric Knowles.

    Aboard an ocean liner just docked in Veracruz, Mexico, William Bendix bursts into Robert Mitchum’s cabin pointing a gun. Bendix wants something he believes Mitchum stole. “You’ve got the wrong man,” Mitchum says. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    20 Oct 2022

Pagination

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