Frank's Movie Log

Michael Haneke’s devastating feature debut. Calm waters of menacing monotony surrender to a crushing tsunami of bleak emotion. As the third act unfolded, I struggled to watch. It’s not what Haneke shows, but what he doesn’t show. We fill the gaps with ourselves. The dread overwhelms. I went in cold, only aware that it concerned a middle-class couple. I suggest you do the same, although I’ve already said too much.

Sam Peckinpah’s feature debut. Brian Keith plays a former Union soldier escorting dance-hall singer Maureen O’Hara through Apache country. Peckinpah had neither script nor edit control, rendering this a mediocre work-for-hire effort. Not a good film, but passable thanks to Keith and the strong supporting cast.

The creatives behind Nightcrawler reunite for an anemic mix of satire and horror set in the contemporary art world. Jake Gyllenhaal plays an influential critic jockeying to exploit a batch of cursed artwork. Continue reading...

Scientists discover a serum capable of transforming mutants into humans, prompting Magneto to gather a goth mutant army and lay siege to the scientists’ Alcatraz laboratory. Wolverine, Storm, and assorted other under-written X-Men stand in his way. Oh, and Jean Grey’s back as an unstoppable force capable of disintegrating any character with an unfavorable contract. Continue reading...

Dario Argento’s directorial debut. Tony Musante plays Sam, an American writer living in Rome. Walking the streets one night, he glances inside an art gallery and spies a black-clad assailant attacking a woman with a knife. Unable to gain entry, Sam watches the attacker escape as the woman lies bleeding on the floor. The police arrive in time to save the woman, but visions of the incident haunt Sam, driving him to investigate the attack. Soon, the killer’s targeting him and his live-in girlfriend, played by Suzy Kendall. Continue reading...

The big-bad dangles from an extradimensional entity’s unending tree-trunk-sized penis. And that’s not the film’s most bonkers aspect. Continue reading...

Alex Essoe plays Sarah, an aspiring Hollywood starlet. She endures rejection after rejection until an unusual audition lands her a callback for a horror film from a mysterious production company. Continue reading...

John Wayne’s fourth credited role. The film opens during the big Army-Navy football game. Wayne plays Army’s star senior quarterback, so beloved he’s not expected to end his sentences with “sir” when talking to the brass. He’s also a womanizer. After the game, with graduation and an assignment to Arizona looming. he jilts his longtime girl, played by Laura La Plante. Continue reading...

If I graded on technical merit alone, M would warrant five stars. Director Fritz Lang’s formal mastery belies his experience. This was his first sound picture, yet he’s already innovating, delivering possibly the first instance of cross-cutting dialogue in cinema. Continue reading...

Left Bank proffers an interesting story about Marie, a promising track star who suffers an unexpected health setback. She moves into her new boyfriend’s Left Bank apartment to recover. Finding herself with an abundance of free time, Marie investigates the former tenant’s unexplained disappearance. Continue reading...