Frank's Movie Log

Christmas Eve night. Sarah, a young pregnant widow, sits alone in an isolated house. Tomorrow, her boss will take her to the hospital to deliver. But tonight, still grieving the recent death of her husband, she wants solitude. A knock at the door. A woman outside begs to use Sarah’s phone. Sarah demurs. The woman insists, calling Sarah by name. Alarmed, Sarah refuses. The woman leaves but Sarah soon catches sight of her outside a large window. The mysterious woman pounds the glass, then vanishes. Soon the woman is inside, and Sarah must fight for her and her unborn child’s lives. Continue reading...

John Travolta plays a Foley engineer recording wind sounds for a low budget horror movie. A nearby car blows a tire and crashes into a lake. Travolta captures the audio on tape, only to discover he’s stumbled upon a far-reaching conspiracy executed by a sinister John Lithgow. Continue reading...

Hmm… How to offer a sense of Trouble Every Day without spoiling it? I spent the first fifteen to twenty minutes wondering what was happening. We’re thrust into a story already in its second act. As we get our bearings, the film coalesces into a meditation on self-destructive behavior with allegories of drug use and infidelity. It explores this theme from two perspectives: one a woman played by Béatrice Dalle and a man played by Vincent Gallo. The differing reactions from their partners proffers a commentary on contemporary sexual politics. To this end, the film works. But the metaphor it uses necessitates extreme gore and sexual violence. Continue reading...

Scarlett Johansson plays Natasha Romanoff, a Russian super-spy turned Avenger in this semi-origin story that opens with her as a tween in suburban Ohio. Her bucolic life shatters when authorities discover her family is a sleeper-cell, forcing them to flee to Cuba. There, she’s separated from her kid sister and shipped off to the Black Widow super-spy training program. Continue reading...

Seven years ago, the starship Event Horizon vanished after attempting humanity’s first hyperspace travel. Now it’s reappeared outside of Neptune, emitting a distress beacon. Laurence Fishburne captains the rescue ship dispatched to investigate. Onboard is the Event Horizon’s designer, played by Sam Neill. Upon rendezvousing with the Horizon, the rescuers discover the remains of a violent massacre and evidence the ship may be sentient. Continue reading...

Ray Wise plays a scientist working deep in the swamp on a top-secret government project. Adrienne Barbeau plays a government agent who arrives on-site. Sparks fly between her and Wise, but before the romance can blossom, a James Bondesque supervillain played by Louis Jordan raids Wise’s lab. This results in a freak accident that transforms Wise into a half-plant/half-man thing. The Swamp Thing. Gifted with superhuman strength and regenerative abilities, the Swamp Thing sets out protecting Barbeau from Jordan and his goons. Continue reading...

I had to watch Death Screams’ opening twice to grasp what happened. The inane logic and under-lit photography left me confused. For those that discover this review after searching “Death Screams opening”, allow me to proffer an explanation. Continue reading...

I expected a brutal, white-knuckle endurance test. I discovered a haunting, resonant, and surprising journey. Continue reading...

How to talk about Titane without ruining the experience? I can reveal the setup. A tween girl suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. Upon exiting the hospital, she approaches the family car with an almost feral desire. We jump forward in time. The girl has become a woman, but the accident’s scar remains. Continue reading...

Ten years after The Devil’s Rejects, Baby and Otis escape jail with help from Otis’ half brother Foxy, played by Richard Brake. The trio flee to Mexico, where they’re targeted for revenge by a masked gangster. Continue reading...