The Package was directed by Andrew Davis, who’d go on to direct one of my favorite films, The Fugitive, a few years later. It stars Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones, two of the best to ever do it. It should have been a great film. Instead, I found it rather disappointing. It isn’t so much a bad film as one that should have been better.
Oh well. You can read my full review over at Cinema Sentries.
I’ve got a terrible sinus headache, and I’m utterly exhausted from work, but I’m dedicated to fulfilling my goal this week of posting multiple things per day. Luckily, I still have a backlog of things I’ve reviewed for Cinema Sentries and not posted here.
And here we go.
Caliber 9 is a terrific Italian Poliziotteschi that blends plenty of action with a hard-hitting political message. It’s from director Fernando Di Leo and he never lets you down. It also has Barbara Bouchet and if you know her you know it is worth watching.
You can read my full review over at Cinema Sentries.
It is a pretty good week for new releases, including this fantastic-looking Paul Schraeder film getting a 4K upgrade from Criterion. But there is also a new Classic Doctor Who season, my favorite Terry Gilliam, and a gritty 1970s drama from Sam Peckinpah. You can read all about it here.
George Wendt, the actor most known for portraying Norm on Cheers, passed away a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely loved that show and especially that character.
I paid tribute to him and wrote about three Raymond Chandler adaptations, a Thin Man sequel, and the opening credits to a fun new show in my latest Five Cool Things article.
You can read all about it over at Cinema Sentries.
Truth be told I’m not a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro’s films. He’s pretty hit or miss for me. But I love a good Frankenstein movie and this seems well suited for the things I do love about his work.
I absolutely loved the first Knives Out movie, and really, really liked the second one. We need more Benoit Blanc in our lives.
When Stranger Things first came out (back in 2016!) I was an immediate fan. It was such a wonderful amalgamation of all the things I loved growing up in the 1980s: Stephen King (or more importantly, movies based on Stephen King books), John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, and a million other things. But it wasn’t just nostalgia-baiting either, the Duffer Brothers had created a wonderful story, one that was clearly influenced by all those things, but was also its own, new thing.
I’ve enjoyed the subsequent seasons, especially the addition of several new cast members, but I also have to admit that none of them have quite had the magic of the first one. If I’m being honest, I am ready for it to be over. This is especially true since it has taken them so long to make each season. Those kids aren’t kids anymore. Millie Bobby Brown is married, for Pete’s sake!
When I learned that Season 5, the final season, consisted of several movie-length episodes, I was a little irritated. I don’t need that much more Stranger Things. I hate it when TV shows act like movies.
But apparently, there are only going to be three episodes, so I can dig that. This teaser trailer is basically just an announcement of that fact. It mostly consists of clips from previous episodes and announces the dates of these three episodes/movies. There are a few new bits and I have to admit that it did get me excited.
As mentioned yesterday, I’ve been taking a break and thinking about what I want to do with this blog. Truth be told, since I moved the music to a new site, my stats on The Midnight Cafe have been abysmal. I know I’ll never be famous. I’ll never have a huge following on this site. I’m not sure I’d want to be that big; it seems like more of a hassle than not. But I would like to have some kind of readership.
I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know how the algorithms work anymore. But I figure the more content (a word I hate, but I don’t know a better one) I create, the better chances of people finding my site. So I’m gonna make a go of it. I’m going to try and post several times a day. Sometimes I’ll do full reviews, sometimes I’ll write short ones. I’d like ot post interesting videos, and news items about new releases. Etc. Anything I find interesting or anytime I have something to say, I’ll try to make a post.
I’ll give it a month. If I do start to grow the site, then I’ll continue. If I don’t…well, I’ll find something better to do with my time.
I watched 37 movies in May. 28 of them were new to me. 16 of them were made before I was born. It was Mysteries in May, and I watched 24 of them.
Favorite first-time watches were So Evil My Love, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, I See a Dark Stranger, Mikey and Nicky, and Dune Part Two.
The actors category is filling out nicely. I like seeing more actresses on there.
I still have some work to do with my directors, but we’re making progress.
Anyway, here’s the full list.
Flying Leathernecks (1951) **1/2
The Mean Season (1985) ***
Final Destination 5 (2011) ***1/2
The Final Destination (2009) **
Final Destination 3 (2006) ***
Prey (2022) ****
Novocaine (2025) ***1/2
Cop Land (1997) ****
The Spy in Black (1939) ****
Dune: Part Two (2024) ****
Dune (2021) ****
Dark Command (1940) ***1/2
A Simple Favor (2018) ***
A Minecraft Movie (2025) ***1/2
Blood for Dracula (1974) ***1/2
It Was a Dark and Silly Night (2008) **
A Gasoline Wedding (1918) ***
The Unseen (1945) ***1/2
The Long Goodbye (1973) ****1/2
Farewell, My Lovely (1975) ***1/2
The Big Sleep (1978) ***
After the Thin Man (1936) ***1/2
Mikey and Nicky (1976) ****
Freaky (2020) ***1/2
I See a Dark Stranger (1946) ****
The Suicide Squad (2021) **1/2
Platoon (1986) ****1/2
The Fallen Bridge (2022) ***1/2
Madigan (1968) ***1/2
They Might Be Giants (1971) ***1/2
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) ***1/2
Lady in Cement (1968) ***
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) *
The Saint (1997) ***
So Evil My Love (1948) ****
The Uninvited (1944) ****
Crooked House (2008) ***
Tony Rome (1967) **1/2
You might be surprised that I like Wet Leg, as they don’t fit within my normal classic rock milieu, but darn if they don’t make me happy.
As I just mentioned, I’m gonna try to do a better job of posting around here. Again, I’ll have more to say about that in a day or two, but as part of that plan, I’m starting a new series I’m calling Now Watching.
Quite a lot of folks do that on social media. They will mention what they are currently watching, or reading, or listening to, and maybe say just a few words about it. So, I thought I’d turn that into a full-on blog post.
The idea won’t be to do full reviews, but to just mention what I’m currently watching (and maybe listening to or reading) and to say a few words about it. Later on, I might do full reviews of some of these things, but maybe not.
Tonight I watched:
Captain Blood (1935)
Directed by Michael Curtis
Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Lionel Atwill, and Basil Rathbone
Synopsis: After treating a Monmouth rebel against King James II in 1680s England, a young Irish doctor is exiled as a slave to Jamaica, where he captures a Spanish galleon and becomes the most feared pirate of the Caribbean.
Rating: 7/10
Thoughts: Me and the wife wanted something fun to watch tonight, and she suggested a pirate movie (she was aiming for the Muppet pirate movie, but we landed on this).
It takes an awfully long time to get to the piracy. Captain Blood starts out as an ordinary citizen, minding his own business. But when he applies his physician’s trade to a rebel fighter, he’s arrested and sold into slavery. Yada, yada, yada, an hour later, he finally becomes a pirate. There is a romance subplot with Olivia De Havilland and Basil Rathbone shows up for a couple of scenes as a rival pirate.
All of that is okay, not great, but watchable. It is the last half hour where things pick up, and the final battle is pretty terrific.
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