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Frank's Movie Log

My life at the movies.

  1. The Jezebels 1975

    C-: 2.5 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Jack Hill. Starring Robbie Lee, Joanne Nail, Monica Gayle, and Asher Brauner.

    Jack Hill’s penultimate directorial effort gets a lot of love from Quentin Tarantino, who re-released it on his Rolling Thunder Pictures label, and Sam Ashurst raved about it on the Arrow podcast, but Switchblade Sisters underwhelmed me. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    21 Feb 2022
  2. Rawhead Rex 1986

    D: 2 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by George Pavlou. Starring David Dukes, Kelly Piper, Hugh O'Conor, and Cora Venus Lunny.

    I can say this about Rawhead Rex: the plot wastes little time getting started. Slight spoilers follow. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    20 Feb 2022
  3. Underworld 1985

    D-: 1.5 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by George Pavlou. Starring Denholm Elliott, Steven Berkoff, Larry Lamb, and Nicola Cowper.

    Clive Barker’s screenwriting debut. Larry Lamb plays Roy Bain, a retired enforcer recruited by a mob boss, to find a missing high-class prostitute. His investigation uncovers a group of mutants living in the London Underground. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    20 Feb 2022
  4. Saint Maud 2019

    C: 3 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Rose Glass. Starring Morfydd Clark, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Jennifer Ehle, and Marcus Hutton.

    I wanted to like this more. In an English seaside town, Maud, a pious young nurse, arrives to care for a dying former dancer. Maud’s charge ridicules her religious sincerity, but Maude remains resolute, determined to save the woman’s soul. The film explores the psychological horrors of a slow death and dissociative obsession. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    19 Feb 2022
  5. God Told Me To 1976

    D+: 2 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Larry Cohen. Starring Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, and Sylvia Sidney.

    Every so often, a movie grabs you from the opening sequence with immersive atmosphere and a ripe premise. When these films go south—as they often do—it disappoints. But sometimes, only sometimes, these films save themselves by leaning into the bad. God Told Me To is such a film. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    18 Feb 2022
  6. Audition 1999

    B+: 4 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Takashi Miike. Starring Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Tetsu Sawaki, and Jun Kunimura.

    If you’ve never heard of Audition, please go watch it now. Don’t look at any posters, or read any synopsis. I envy folks going in cold. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    17 Feb 2022
  7. Joint Security Area 2000

    C: 3 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Park Chan-wook. Starring Lee Yeong-ae, Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, and Kim Tae-woo.

    At the guarded border between North and South Korea, gunshots shatter the nighttime silence. Two North Korean soldiers lay dead in their guardhouse, as a South Korean soldier, bloodied and wounded, limps toward the south. Both sides mobilize troops and exchange gunfire. The next morning, accusations fly. South Korea claims the North abducted the soldier. North Korea claims the South Korean guard crossed the border and committed a massacre. The Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission calls in a Swiss investigator to discover the truth. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    17 Feb 2022
  8. Valentine 2001

    C-: 2.5 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Jamie Blanks. Starring Denise Richards, David Boreanaz, Marley Shelton, and Jessica Capshaw.

    Sometimes a movie fails to live up to its potential. When a high-minded drama fails to resonate or an actioner fails to thrill, I feel burned. But when a slasher fails to exploit a forward-thinking social commentary, I’m more lenient. So it is with Valentine, the story of five grade-school friends, now young women, who find themselves stalked by an unknown assailant as Valentine’s Day approaches. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    14 Feb 2022
  9. My Bloody Valentine 1981

    B-: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by George Mihalka. Starring Paul Kelman, Lori Hallier, Neil Affleck, and Keith Knight.

    Twenty years ago, in a small Nova Scotian mining town, a cave-in trapped several miners. The men on watch were AWOL at a Valentine’s Day party, forcing the lone survivor to resort to cannibalism. After his rescue, the survivor donned his mining gear and murdered the negligent men. Since then, the town hasn’t celebrated Valentine’s Day.

    Now a fresh group of young miners and their girlfriends want to have a Valentine’s Day party. Unbeknownst to them, someone wearing a miner’s outfit has begun offing locals. The mayor and sheriff keep the killings under wraps and cancel the party. But the frustrated miners move the party to the mine. Soon, the youngsters find themselves trapped underground with the killer. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    14 Feb 2022
  10. Sightseers 2012

    B: 4 stars (out of 5)

    Directed by Ben Wheatley. Starring Alice Lowe, Kenneth Hadley, Steve Oram, and Eileen Davies.

    After Kill List’s neo-noir horror, director Ben Wheatley pivots to black comedy with this story of Tina and Chris, a dysfunctional couple touring the English countryside in a camper. After an accident that sees them backing into a passing cyclist, the bodies pile up, testing the relationship. Continue reading...

    Watched on
    13 Feb 2022

Pagination

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