Frank's Movie Log

Imagine you’re a bank teller and discover someone is planning to hold-up your branch. Would you tell the police? Would you call in sick? Or would you do as Elliott Gould’s character in The Silent Partner does and steal the money yourself? The gunman escapes with a pittance, you report the full amount as stolen and pocket the difference. A great plan, but what if the gunman knows you’ve done it and wants the money? Continue reading...

This review proves a challenge. I appreciate what Onibaba is about, and the formal rigor director Kaneto Shindô employed, but the film didn’t work for me. Continue reading...

Ingmar Bergman’s delightful sophomore feature. Barbro Kollberg and Birger Malmsten play two lonely young strangers who sleep together, feel a connection, and strive to build a life together. Bergman’s decision to have his omniscient narrator—known only as “Man with umbrella”—appear as a character in the story lends a whimsical hue. It presents a biting exposé of the hypocrisy in contemporary Swedish society but never feels cynical. The courtroom finale had me cackling with glee. Continue reading...

I reviewed Kill a Dragon over a decade ago during this site’s first incarnation. My logs tell me folks are looking for that review, so I revisited it. I had no recollection of the film, nor any sense of déjà vu re-watching it. This may serve as review enough. Continue reading...

Maléfique opens with a man named Carrère saying goodbye to his wife and young son. He is a white-collar criminal and today marks his first day in prison. We meet his cellmates: Lassalle, an older librarian of few words, Marcus, a brash young man whose large breast implants clash with his brawny physique, and Pâquerette, a man-child with a penchant for eating things.

After establishing these characters and their interpersonal dynamics, the plot kicks into gear. The men discover a moldy diary that doubles as a spell book. Eager to escape, the men try some incantations but discover magic carries a high cost. Continue reading...

Ingmar Bergman’s first feature. Inga Landgré plays Nelly, an 18-year-old girl raised by a piano-teacher in a small village. Nelly yearns for something more and sees an escape when her estranged mother arrives to claim her. But happiness eludes Nelly in the big city, where a complex triangle forms between her, her mother, and her mother’s gigolo boyfriend. Continue reading...

“It will blow you through the back wall of the theater!” Does anyone remember that tagline from the film’s trailers and print ads? It makes no sense, yet it’s my go-to description for folks new to Die Hard. Continue reading...

Christmas Evil isn’t the sleazy Santa slasher you’d expect. Continue reading...