Don’t tell anyone, but sometimes I request review copies just for my wife. I’m on record as stating I’m weird about comedies. I don’t like movies or shows that are just joke factories. I want a story and characters first and then jokes.
But she’s a fan of silliness, and she had mentioned wanting to see this film, so when I got offered a Blu-ray, I took it.
It took me a little while to warm up to Fackham Hall, but once I got into its groove, I found it to be very funny. You can read my full review at Cinema Sentries.
I watched 41 movies in January. 34 of them were new to me. 18 of them were made before I was born. I completely failed at my new theme – New Year, New You. I watched a few films that could be categorized as that, but I only wrote about three of them. I really am going to have to just stick to genres or decades for my themes.
It is always exciting to me to come into a new year with my movie journals. Every January I reset everything. I start fresh with my most-watched actor and director lists. It feels like I can just watch whatever I want.
I always enjoy watching those lists slowly solidify as the months roll on.
For my most-watched actors category, James Stewart has taken the lead. I got a four-film boxed set of his films to review this past month, putting him in first place. Paul Walter Hauser is a guy I’d never heard of until a few months ago when I watched him in a TV series called Blackbird. Now I keep finding him in all sorts of things.
I’ve apparently not watched any director for more than a single film, so that list doesn’t even exist yet.
Favorite new to me films I watched in January include Send Help, The Shop Around the Corner, The Vast of Night, Sleeping Car to Trieste, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and Barry Lyndon.
During Franco’s reign of Spain from 1939 to 1975, the government controlled all forms of artistic expression. After his death, movies once again began to express themselves as their creators desired. Artistic expression was political freedom. These films, which were suddenly able to explore sexuality, violence, and horror in ways that had been censored for decades, became a kind of cultural exorcism.
Severin Films is now releasing 19 of those films in a boxed set they are calling Exorcismo: Defying a Dictator & Raising Hell in Post-Franco Spain. I’ve not heard of any of these films, and my film knowledge is severely lacking in all Spanish cinema, but this sounds like a marvelous place to start. I’m happy to make this set my pick of the week.
Also out that looks interesting:
Keeper: Osgood Perkins’ latest has gotten very mixed reviews, but I always find his films at least interesting. Tatiana Maslany stars as a woman left alone in an isolated cabin only to discover an unspeakable evil.
3:10 to Yuma: Criterion is giving this classic western starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin about a mild-mannered rancher who is tasked with shepherding an outlaw back to prison the UHD treatment.
Friday the 13th (2009): Arrow Video is giving this terrible remake their special treatment.
Peter Greenstreet and Peter Lorre starred in nine films together including two absolute bangers – The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca. The Verdict was their final collaboration, and sadly it isn’t great. But it isn’t terrible and it was the first film ever directed by Don Siegel so it has that going for it. You can read my full review here.
When I first began writing these Friday Night Horror columns, back in 2022, I didn’t really write full reviews of the films. They really were Friday night movies. After supper, me and the family would go upstairs to my bedroom and watch a Doctor Who episode, and then I’d write my Five Cool Things column (which was published on Fridays back then), and then I’d start watching a horror movie. But by then it was usually pretty late. Many times I’d actually fall asleep on the couch before I’d finished the movie. Even if I did make it to the end, it would be way too late for me to be able to write a full review. So usually, somewhere in the middle of the film, I’d dash off my column with promises to write my full thoughts the next morning (usually this didn’t happen.)
At some point my daughter got older and started having friends over on Friday nights (or she’d go to their house), and the Doctor Who watching kind of stopped. Then I stopped writing Five Cool Things on Fridays, and suddenly I had a lot more free time to start my weekend. Truth be told, I often watch my horror movies on Friday afternoons.
Short thoughts on movies I hadn’t even finished became full-on reviews, and here we are. I say all this to admit one thing: I can barely remember watching Black Phone (2021). When trailers started dropping for Black Phone 2, I remembered I had seen the first one, but I couldn’t remember anything about it. I was pretty sure I had written about it, so I searched my site hoping to find a review to refresh my memory. I found my Friday Night Horror column on it, but then had to face the fact that it was written at that time when I wasn’t writing full reviews. And in the case of this movie, I was so spoiler-avoidant I hardly said anything about the plot.
I started to watch it again because I wasn’t interested in the sequel, but I’ve got a stack of Blu-rays on my desk that need watching (and reviewing), so I didn’t feel like I had time. So I watched a couple of trailers and refreshed myself with the basic premise of the films and sat down with the sequel.
Black Phone 2 takes place four years after the original film. The hero of that film, Finney Black (Mason Thames), the only survivor of the Grabber’s (Ethan Hawke) reign as a serial killer, is haunted by his experience. His sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), who helped find Finn when he was trapped in the Grabber’s basement, is now haunted by nightmares featuring young boys being murdered at the Alpine Lake Christian Camp. When she receives a phone call from her dead mother and discovers that she once worked at Alpine Lake, she convinces Finn and her friend Ernesto (Miguel Mora) – whose brother was killed by the Grabber – to visit Alpine Lake and investigate.
They tell the camp they are interested in becoming counselors in training. The camp agrees, but by the time they arrive, a great blizzard has rolled in. Most of the staff went home to stay out of the storm, and none of the other counselors (or campers) have arrived. This leaves our heroes alone with Armondo (Demián Bichir) the camp supervisor; Mustang (Arianna Rivas), Armondo’s niece and assistant; and Barbara (Maev Beaty) and Kenneth (Graham Abbey) two employees of the camp and staunch Christians.
As someone who grew up in a conservative Christian environment and who attended a Christian summer camp for several years, I have a little complaint to make. Our heroes – two boys and a girl – arrive at this camp in the midst of a terrible storm in the middle of the night. They are greeted rather coldly and then immediately separated – boys in one cabin, Gwen in another. When Gwen asks about this arrangement, not wanting to be left alone in this strange place in the middle of a storm, she’s told by Mustang that there is a law against underage boys and girls sleeping in the same cabin. Furthermore, while Mustang would like to stay with Gwen, she also is not allowed by law because she is not a licensed counselor.
What the what? I’ve been to numerous Christian camps and retreats, and while it is true they don’t allow boys and girls to bunk in the same house as each other, it isn’t because of some law but rather because they fear the sexy. Boys and girls can’t be trusted with their lust and therefore must be separated. Even if it is in the middle of the night, in a strange place, and there is a scary snowstorm. Even if one of the boys is the girl’s brother. And almost every adult I’ve ever known in this situation would absolutely let Gwen either stay with her brother or with them. No way are they making her sleep by herself.
But I digress.
Gwen continues to have dreams. A payphone (for some reason located outside by itself, very near a frozen lake) starts ringing even though it is disconnected. Finn answers it and discovers the Grabber isn’t dead, and he’s ready for his revenge.
Armondo is suspicious these kids aren’t really the Christian camp counselor type (Gwen’s hilariously foul mouth tips him off), and soon enough they confess to him why they are really there. He remembers the mother and agrees to help.
Gwen’s nightmares were shot using Super 8 and Super 16 cameras, which give it a wonderfully gritty and old look. Unfortunately, they are mostly gore-filled jump scares that didn’t do anything for me. The rest of the film didn’t fare much better.
My (admittedly vague) memory of the first film is that it was very tense and thrilling. The sequel has none of that. They don’t attempt to add anything to the lore. They don’t try and explain how the Grabber is still alive. He’s come from hell, I guess. They do some variations on his creepy mask, which is kind of cool, but he isn’t terrifying here.
I didn’t hate the film. There are moments that are interesting. I do appreciate that they tried to go in a different direction instead of imitating the original, but they missed the goal line.
I feel like I grouse a little too much about not having much of a readership. In truth, it isn’t that big of a deal. Sure, I wish more people read my stuff, but I’m not actually trying all that hard to gain a readership. I write because I like to write.
But I also realize that I tend to write about relatively obscure stuff. I don’t go to the movies every week and catch the hot movies. I don’t even tend to watch them at home and write about them. I watch stuff like this – an obscure Italian murder mystery that wasn’t likely known in the US when it came out, much less 50 years later.
Sometimes I tell myself to write about new things, or at least popular ones, but I can’t help myself. I watch what I like, and I write about that.
Oh well. This film may be obscure, it is certainly strange, but it was also pretty good. You can read my full review here.
I very intentionally stay away from writing about politics in these pages. Partially because I don’t think I would sway anyone one way or another, but also because I just don’t have the energy to argue anymore.
But what ICE is doing all over our country, and especially in Minneapolis, is unconscionable. It is wrong. There has to be a better way.
Bruce Springsteen just dropped a song about it, and it is angry and powerful. He does not hold back. Neither should you. Neither should I.
When I was thinking of what theme I should do for January, my wife was the first to come up with the New Year concept. Originally she suggested road trip movies. New Year means trying to make changes in your life, and sometimes that means leaving the place you’ve been stuck in. I liked that idea but wasn’t sure I could do enough road trip movies to make it through the month.
But I do think you can encompass travel into my larger theme of New Year, New You. Now, we are going to stretch it a little further and suggest any movie where the people are traveling somewhere even if they don’t experience much growth along the way.
I love road trip movies. I love movies set on trains even more. I love train travel in general. I have ridden a lot of trains all over Europe and Asia; it is a wonderful way to travel. As much as I love to drive, it is very nice to ride the rails and not have to worry about anything. Trains are so much more enjoyable than planes. You have more legroom. You can get up and walk about. And the scenery is often much more beautiful.
There are lots of different types of movies set on and around trains. I love a good mystery or thriller set aboard a train. Trains are enclosed spaces, so the killer (or thief, or whatever) only has so many places to hide. But there are usually many cars so that you aren’t just stuck in one room. And the train is traveling, which allows for different scenery and different passengers to come and go, and the ever present possibility that someone could jump.
An important diary is stolen from the Paris Embassy by Zurta (Albert Lieven) and Valya (Jean Kent). They hand it to a man called Poole (Alan Wheatley) who is supposed to usher it to a designated rendezvous point. Instead, he runs to the Orient Express with intentions to sell it to the highest bidder. The diary is said to contain information that in the wrong hands would lead to yet another world war.
Zurta and Valya learn of Poole’s deception and board the train. It departs for Trieste. To complicate matters, Zurta is wanted by the authorities in Trieste and must depart before they arrive there.
They don’t exactly know where Poole is on the train; he’s doing a good job of staying low, and they can’t make a show of looking for him because they had every intention of using the diary themselves.
Mixed in with all of this espionage is a big bag of characters having their own side stories. Usually this kind of film has lots of these types of characters, but their screen time is minimized. They exist to give the film color, to give the setting some realism. But here they are given ample opportunity to be on screen. Numerous, what would normally be side characters, are given time to have fully drawn stories. Our leads often feel like supporting parts.
There is a young GI looking for some birds to chat up and winds up in a car with a British ornithologist. A boorish Brit spends all his time with the train’s renowned chef trying to teach him how to cook dull dishes. A businessman takes a woman with him who is decidedly not his wife in hopes of an affair, but fate keeps intervening and keeping them apart. Etc. and so forth.
Poole bribes a porter to get a private room where he hides the diary. But then he’s kicked out because that room was reserved by a very prominent and rich writer. He’s then sat with a French detective, Inspector Jolif (Paul Dupuis). Eventually, the diary will be found, and someone (or someones) will find themselves dead. It is Inspector Jolif who will have to put everything together. But even then the film doesn’t bother itself too much with that angle.
I sound like I’m complaining, but I’m absolutely not. I enjoyed this crazy cast of characters and each of their stories. I would have enjoyed it more if they’d spent just a little more time on the thriller aspects, but mostly this film is a lot of fun.
Once again a John Woo flick is getting the 4K UHD treatment and once again I’m making it my Pick of the Week. I’ve never seen Once a Thief, never even heard of it if I’m being honest, but it sounds interesting to me. Read all about it and everything else that’s coming out over at Cinema Sentries.
I love, love, loved Dinosaur Jr. when I was a teenager. A bad breakup with a girl in college kept me away from them for a long time, but I’ve since come back to enjoy their brand of music.
Wilco is one of my very favorite bands. Wilco invited Dinosaur Jr to play on their Sky Blue Sky festival in Mexico this week. During Wilco’s set J joined them for a fiery version of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer.”
Three lead guitar players is always a challenge but I love the way they pulled it off here. Jeff, J, and Nels all get a chance to solo, but when they aren’t doing that they still add plenty of texture. I love how Jeff seems to almost forget about the final verse and just kind of throw it out there at the end.
themidnightcafe.org 