Frank's Movie Log

Like Dracula, I’ve seen this movie countless times. Boris Karloff still shines as the monster, but this latest viewing gave me a new appreciation for Jack Pierce’s makeup work. Even in the harsh daylight scenes blown up to 4k, it looks seamless. I always forget how those daylight scenes open up the picture. The lack of echo during the mountain chase finale betrays the soundstage artifice, but the genuine outdoor scenes are fantastic. Continue reading...

My favorite gambling movie. George Segal and Elliott Gould amble through card rooms, tracks, and bars, culminating in a high-stakes Reno poker game. Director Robert Altman’s cynical—yet often humorous—portrait conveys a visceral sense of Segal and Gould’s swings. Short on plot but long on atmosphere, it’s the closest thing to being there.

A post-Scream reboot that turns up the meta-humor and turns down the horror. Continue reading...

In an alternate 1985 where the US won the Vietnam War and Nixon is still President, an aging costumed hero’s murder proves the tip of a dark conspiracy. Continue reading...

Jason’s back, and he’s brought meta-humor. Continue reading...

Brian De Palma’s first studio film. Tom Smothers plays a burned-out corporate exec who quits his high-paying job to become a tap-dancing magician. Continue reading...

Starts rough, with an inert, talky scene where Phillips Lord spins a folksy yarn about his finances. Things improve as the script settles into a rural melodrama involving a pair of young lovers looking to elope and the return of an adopted boy’s brutish biological father. Bette Davis plays one of the young lovers in her then biggest part to date. She’s fine, if unremarkable in the role. Continue reading...

John Barrymore plays a crippled Russian dancer turned puppeteer, who raises a young boy to achieve the success that escaped him. Continue reading...

Ingmar Bergman arrives. In Stockholm, teens Harry and Monika work dead-end jobs. A chance meeting leads to a date. Romance blossoms between dreamer Harry and free-spirit Monika. But a fight with her drunken father forces Monika to flee her home. Soon, Harry and Monika decide to quit their jobs and run away together in Harry’s father’s boat. They find paradise in the Stockholm archipelago but said paradise proves short-lived. Continue reading...

Resurrected again, Chucky resumes his murderous quest to escape his artificial body. Continue reading...