My life at the movies.
Directed by Sergio Bergonzelli. Starring John Phillip Law, Gordon Mitchell, Brigitte Christensen, and Marco Di Stefano.
Most plot synopses of Blood Delirium would have you believe the film concerns a mad artist who believes himself a reincarnation of Vincent van Gogh. This proves as misleading as saying Big Trouble in Little China is about a trucker who believes himself John Wayne. Continue reading...
Directed by Lucio Fulci. Starring Jack Hedley, Almanta Suska, Howard Ross, and Andrea Occhipinti.
A maniac stalks the streets of New York City, killing attractive women by mutilating their breasts or genitals. A New York Police Detective recruits a professor of psychology to help him find the killer. Continue reading...
Directed by Brandon Cronenberg. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman, and Dunja Sepcic.
I wanted to like this more. Writer-director Brandon Cronenberg proffers an intriguing premise built upon themes he explored in Possessor, but the resulting work feels unsure. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...
Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, and Scott Speedman.
Sharing the same title as his 1970 feature, Crimes of the Future serves as a poignant conclusion to David Cronenberg’s career-long interrogation of our relationship with our bodies. Continue reading...
Directed by Álex de la Iglesia. Starring Antonio Resines, Álex Angulo, Frédérique Feder, and Juan Viadas.
In a dystopian near future, beautiful people rule the world. A group of outsiders plots terrorist attacks on the establishment. The group comprises conjoined twins, a deaf-mute giant with the mind of a toddler, a hunchback dwarf, a man in a full body brace, and a legless man who floats around in a hover-chair and keeps explosives strapped to his torso. They call themselves mutants, and their organization Mutant Action. Continue reading...
Directed by Cheh Chang. Starring Kuan Tai Chen, Feng Lu, Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok, and Meng Lo.
Crippled Avengers opens with a rival clan assaulting kung fu master Du Tiandao’s home. Finding Du Tiandao away, the clan decide to leave him a message, something to let Du Tiandao know they mean business. So they chop off Du Tiandao’s wife’s legs at the thighs and his grade school aged son’s arms at the elbows. Continue reading...
Directed by Michael Curtiz and Archie Mayo. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Dick Foran, and Erin O'Brien-Moore.
Humphrey Bogart plays Frank Taylor, a senior machinist and family man who loses an expected promotion to a younger co-worker from an immigrant family. Feeling angry and cheated, Frank falls in with the titular Legion, a black-robed hate group. Continue reading...
Directed by Bill Gunn. Starring Edward Michael Bell, Linda Marsh, Richard Dow, and Marlene Clark.
Writer Michael and his wife Lee drift through their middle-class existence. Michael inherits his brother’s Puerto Rican estate. He and Lee decamp there, hoping the change of scenery will spark their loveless marriage. It does not and Michael spirals into self-destructive behavior. Spoilers follow. Continue reading...
Directed by Archie Mayo. Starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Loretta Young, Aline MacMahon, and Guy Kibbee.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays the titular Jimmy Dolan, who opens the film winning the world light-heavyweight boxing championship. Radio reporters crowd the ring, asking Jimmy to say a few words. He says “Hello mom, are you listening? This is Jimmy. I just won and there ain’t a mark on me mom, not a mark. I’m coming home right away now and I got the money and you can get that house in Yonkers.” Continue reading...
Directed by Robert N. Bradbury. Starring John Wayne, Verna Hillie, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Yakima Canutt, Billy Franey, Eddie Parker, and Earl Dwire.
The Watch TCM print lacks the synthesized score dubbed onto most distributions.
