the dulcedemon writings

Reservation Dogs (2021-2023):
We finally saw all of Rez Dogs! It was late last year when we began. We got through the first season, and the second season minus three episodes, then it was moved to a higher tier. We didn't feel like paying Disney more money. If we had upgraded, this series would have been on the movie list that I had slated for March before my cat Tita died. The show became available again a few weeks before everyone decided to boycott Disney over Jimmy Kimmel. We unsubscribed as soon as we finished it.

My original plan back at the beginning of the year was to pair Reservation Dogs with a Canadian television series from the 1980s, Spirit Bay, which was about life on an Ojibwe reservation from a youth perspective. It's lauded as the first truly Indigenous production. There is also a bit of crossover with the casts. Actual cousins, Gary Farmer and Graham Greene appeared on both shows. I thought it would lend nuance to seeing them as elders in Reservation Dogs.

As for details of the episodes of Spirit Bay, I remember very little. I know I watched it on Nickelodeon, even though its Wikipedia page says it was on the Disney channel. I adored the theme music. I vaguely recall Gary Farmer as Uncle Cheemo. There was an episode in which Rabbit (Tre Smith) and a friend/cousin break into a liquor cabinet and get drunk. It could have been Uncle Cheemo's liquor cabinet for all I know. It had an after school special, dangers of underage drinking vibe. I don't recall what the consequences were, but presumably, the little scamps learned an important lesson. The character Rabbit was kind of like the Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) of the show.

We tried watching the handful of episodes available on YouTube and at the Internet Archive, but the quality was rather poor, and I couldn't find the underage drinking episode. How unfortunate it would be to lose Spirit Bay, when it was the forerunner of so many others, including Reservation Dogs. It's a shame that neither series has been made available on home video or DVD.

Reservation Dogs tells the story of a group of teens living on a reservation in Oklahoma. When the story begins, they are trying to come up with money for a trip to California while grieving the loss of a friend. It's about their hopes and dreams, disappointments and setbacks, future plans, and shared heartbreak. It's also about family, both blood and chosen.

Bear and his mother, Elora and her grandmother, Willy Jack and her parents, Cheese and his uncle, plus a large hyper-extended family of aunties, uncles and cousins willing to step in and help. Not just as a family, but as a community, and everyone is glad to do their part, even when they don't necessarily like each other or get along well. Even the way they handle petty crime like theft, when the need arises for intervention and discipline, there is no rush to involve law enforcement, except maybe Big (Zahn McClarnon). That closeness and willingness to help one another in that way was very heartwarming. It's a refreshing change from the everyone for themselves society that is so pervasive (white).

For the most part, the show is lighthearted and fun, though there are some emotionally intense episodes. There are many funny moments, lots of goofing around, and heavy cannabis consumption, particularly when it comes to Uncle Brownie. I liked the way they use humor when tackling challenging subjects. I appreciated the gender inclusivity, and everyone being so cool and casual about it like it's not even a concern. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a teen romance show. When I was their age, Beverly Hills 90210 was the show aimed at that demographic. It was horrible stuff.

The spirits were a little perplexing at times. I get that Bear has a spirit guide (Dallas Goldtooth) that only he can see, and that spirit tends to pop up at the worst or most awkward times and places. That same spirit later appears to Uncle Brownie (Gary Farmer). I have no problem with that, but Deer Lady (Kaniehtiio Horn) is another matter. Like I understand her function but not necessarily her form. Is she a spirit or a shapeshifter? I mean, she has a body. Everyone can see her. She can interact with anyone. She even drives! If she is a person inhabited by a deer spirit, does that make her immortal? I don't want to piss off Deer Lady, but I have questions.

I enjoyed every episode, but these really stood out to me:

Season One:
Come and Get Your Love: Big tells Cheese (Lane Factor) the story of why he became a rez cop. Bodhi Okuma Linton was a good casting choice for Young Big. I'm from a generation that automatically recognizes the song after which this episode was named, but I was born a year too late to catch Redbone on The Midnight Special.

Hunting: Fathers who hunt with their daughters are cool. This episode reminded me of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010). There is a lot of insight into Willy Jack (Paulina Alexis) in this one.

Satvrday: I'm not going to say how I know about the axe thing. It happened when I was a kid. The only important detail is the tornado missed our house.

Season Two:
Mabel: The whole community comes together to hold vigil at the bedside of a dying elder, grandmother, mother, sister, friend --Mabel (Geraldine Keams). I was in awe of the constant food and beverage preparation and consumption in this episode.

Wide Net: Bear's mother Rita (Sarah Podemski) and the aunties she works with at the IHS go wild at a business convention. The part where they make their entrance to Funnel of Love by Wanda Jackson...

This is Where the Plot Thickens: Big finds himself on an involuntary vision quest of sorts joined hilariously by Kenny Boy (Kirk Fox). It's a rare treat when a movie or tv show gets the psychedelic experience right.

Season Three:
House Made of Bongs: It's a flashback to when the elders were as young and wild as the Rez Dogs. I don't how long it took them to cast the actors for this episode, but they really nailed it, especially Nathan Alexis as Young Brownie.

Frankfurter Sandwich: The uncles coax Cheese into going on a camping trip. Wes Studi is very funny as Bucky. That's true of all the episodes with him. He just plays so well with Gary Farmer and Zahn McClarnon here. I imagine they had fun making this episode.

Dig: Once again, the community comes together at the passing of an elder. The funeral preparations are ritualized and gender segregated. The men attend the gravesite and do all the digging by hand. The women all crowd into the kitchen and cook up massive amounts of food. The gender roles are strict until one poignant moment, and I was so glad to see it.

I highly recommend this series. I'm not suggesting people pay money to Disney/Hulu. Watch it however you can, learn some new vocabulary, and don't be a shit ass.

North of North (2024):
This series set in a small Artic village is also authentically Native, but it leans more into romantic comedy. A young Inuk woman, Siaja (Anna Lambe), makes major changes to her life after she has a brush with death as a result of a boating accident. Her longing to be more than just a traditional wife and stay-at-home mom causes friction in her marriage.

Her husband, Ting (Kelly William), is well-liked and praised by everyone in the village for his hunting and athletic skills. Unfortunately, that popularity has gone to his head. Their very public split is big news and the subject of much gossip in the tiny village of Ice Cove.

Siaja's mother Neevee is played brilliantly by Maika Harper. Mother and daughter dynamics are the backbone of the show, Neevee with Siaja, and Siaja with Bun (Keira Cooper). North of North elevates single motherhood, while also showing how damn hard it can be.

The costume department made a special effort to recruit the services of traditional clothing makers local to the Nunavut area. The quality and care put into it really shows. The parkas are gorgeous!

Much of the comedy hinges on awkward or embarrassing moments for various characters but especially Siaja. Even the ocean spirit she sees in visions, Nuliajuk (Tanya Tagaq), busts her stones. The show has been renewed for a second season to which I'm looking forward.

My favorite episodes:

Joy to the Effing World - Siaja tries to spice up elders' night at the Ice Cove community center. It's beautiful the way elders are willing to calmly extend grace and give young people second, third, or however many chances it takes to get something right.

Walrus Dick Baseball - How can I not love walrus dick baseball. I got a kick out of the part where they explain the rules of the game.

Bad Influences - Generational trauma bubbles to the surface, leading to a heartfelt conversation between mother and daughter. Doreen Nutaaq Simmonds as Elisapee really shines in this episode as she steps up from being a supporting character to offer Neevee some words of wisdom and spiritual counsel.

The Catman of Paris (1946):
Republic Pictures really wanted this to be their The Wolf Man (1941), which was popular enough to spawn a few sequels, but despite borrowing much of the plot from Werewolf of London (1935), it was not the raging success they had hoped. There are number of silly reasons why I prefer The Catman of Paris to either of those wolfman movies. For one thing, I had seen stills of the catman in various horror movie documentaries over the years, often presented without reference to the film from which they came. Without that context, the make-up was such that he looked more like a shabby, half-assed werewolf than anything feline. It made me want to find the film.

I like that it doesn't bother with magic curses or "Have you been bitten?" afflictions. I like that it stars Carl Esmond as Charles Regnier. The only other film I know him from is Fritz Lang's suspenseful tale of cake and Nazis, Ministry of Fear (1944). A native of Austria, Esmond was a matinée idol known all over Europe for playing romantic leads and bon vivant types. As the Nazi party began its rise to power, he moved to London, then eventually made his way to Hollywood, where he was frequently cast as a bad guy, including the kind he fled.

The cops in The Catman of Paris are hilarious. Monsieur Le Prefet (Fritz Feld) and Inspector Severen (Gerald Mohr) are quite a pair. The prefect of police gives the appearance of a distinguished, scholarly gentleman, but he is basically a Giorgio A. Tsoukalos meme. The inspector takes his job seriously, putting logic and facts above all else. He likes to construct elaborate models of the crime scenes he investigates. In this case, it's a street corner somewhere in Paris. The same model is used in the credits with a black cat for scale.

I do love cats, but this movie was much easier to watch before I had any. There are a lot of cat noises, and they are mostly the angry or frightened, jump scare-inducing kind. I often watch it with English subtitles, so I don't have to jockey the volume to avoid upsetting our cat.

A famous author of a controversial novel that angered the French government has his book tour interrupted, when he becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Poor Charles Regnier! He has just returned to Paris after a few years of being a global gadabout, and he is wanted for questioning by both the government and the police. The government has alleged that his latest novel couldn't have been written without access to classified information about a high profile court case. The author insists that his work is pure fiction and any similarities are coincidental.

When a courier transporting documents related to the case is murdered, the police focus on Regnier. They question him, but they lack evidence, and he has wealth, so they have no choice but to let him go gallivanting around Paris with his agent, his fiancé, and his publisher's daughter to whom he would prefer to be engaged. Lenore Aubert plays Marie Audet, who is essentially the other woman, but she is so sweet and wholesome that it doesn't feel that way. Adele Mara plays Regnier's absurdly wealthy, voluptuous, and ostentatiously attired fiancé Marguerite Duval. I wonder if it would have been better if these two women had swapped roles. Mara's performance has a certain exuberance. Maybe it's from her years as a singer and dancer with Xavier Cugat and his band.

The Catman of Paris was directed by Lesley Selander, whose claim to fame is directing one hundred seven B-grade Westerns, and fifty-four episodes of Lassie (1955-1959). It's cheesy. The catman doesn't look much like a cat. His monstrous transformation is inserted footage of stormy seas tossing a buoy illuminated by flashes of lightning. The romance is tepid, the action is minimal except for a pretty wild carriage chase, but Feld and Mohr are too unintentionally funny to miss.

This was not an easy movie to get. I had been renting Netflix's copy of an out of print DVD. It can be streamed online but the quality is poor. I had been periodically checking movie retailers for it, then in 2023, Imprint released it on Blu-ray.

The Blu-ray is rather pricey and aimed at collectors. I held off on buying it for over a year, during which the price did not go down. It comes in a nice movie poster art slip case. The interior case shows a different poster than the cover. There are a few extras. The best of which is a comprehensive documentary about Republic Pictures film studio, The Republic Pictures Story (1991), which was produced in association with American Movie Classics. There is an interesting though eyebrow-raising video essay by film historian Kat Ellinger titled Mark of the Beast: Myth Making and Masculinity in the Catman of Paris. I wish someone would pay me to read too much into things. Commentary is provided by film historians Kim Newman, and Stephen Jones.

Murder by Television (1935):
Four years after the success of Dracula, Bela Lugosi starred as Dr. Arthur Perry, and Edwin Perry in this technobabble murder mystery with a cast largely composed of bit part players. An exception is George Meeker, who was famous for playing heel characters as he does here in the role of Richard Grayson (no affiliation with Batman). Meeker also starred with Lugosi in Night of Terror (1933). Other than those two, the only actor I recognized was Hattie McDaniel. She was just a few years into her acting career, when she played Isabella - the Cook.

There is a niche of the sci-fi genre devoted to taking creative liberties with existing but cutting-edge technology before it becomes widely available and well understood. The general formula is to start out with something plausible utilizing known capabilities, then baffle and bullshit the audience with convoluted technical explanations and scientific-sounding mumbo jumbo until they are sufficiently awed into buying the rest of the story. I happen to be quite fond of it.

The publications Radio World and Radio News shown at the start of the film were real. Radio News was created and published by Hugo Gernsback. Another one of his publications was the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. Gernsback's interests and career were all about the intersection of electronics and fiction.

A headline and sub-headline from Murder by Television:
Successful Television Programs Broadcast by Radio News Station WRNY
Images now being transmitted daily on the 326 and 30.91m band, for benefit of radio experimenters, television impulses are contained to 5000 cycle limit

Radio station WRNY was launched by Hugo Gernsback in 1925. Three years later, the New York City station began experimenting with television transmissions.
WRNY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRNY_(New_York_City)

Although I failed to find any references that either confirm or deny it, I'm convinced that the character Professor James Houghland was inspired by Hugo Gernsback.
Professor Houghland:
"Experimental station zy3 located at White Plains, NY on a safe channel of three-quarter meters we are attempting to reach the entire United States direct without the use of relays."

The professor has come up with a marvelous new invention that he claims will revolutionize how and where television signals can be sent. That announcement immediately attracts the interest of television companies, and triggers a competitive rush of corporate executives desperate to buy the invention. When the professor makes it clear that it's not for sale at any price, skullduggery ensues. When a combination swank party and invention demonstration is held at Professor Houghland's mansion, those television executives are in attendance along with a bunch of other rich folk, socialites, the press, the chief of police, and a phrenology obsessed brain surgeon.

The brain surgeon, Dr. Scofield (Huntly Gordon), brings an electronic brainpan-measuring device of his own to the party. Basically, it's fancy calipers. Since it's the 1930s and they are into phrenology, of course there are racial and ethnic stereotypes! We have a pidgin-speaking, proverb-spouting Chinese butler (Allen Jung), a Black housekeeper hysterically afraid of ghosts "Oh Lordy! Lordy! Oh Lordy! Lordy!" (Hattie McDaniel), and an Irish night watchman (Billy Sullivan) who uses quaint expressions like "soup and fish getup" to describe a suspect's attire.

There are a lot of things wrong with this movie, yet I liked it enough to hunt it down and buy it. It helps that it's a "Jordan" movie. The quality of the transfer is worth every one of the eight dollars I paid for it.

I had hoped it would have been cleaned up and restored by now, but Murder by Television looks much the same as when I first saw it on television almost thirty years ago. There are a couple scenes that take place in a darkened room. The visual detail of which has been lost to the extent that the audience is just as much in the dark as the characters. The editing is outstandingly sloppy. There is a reaction shot of two party guests played by Sam Harris and Ruth Cherrington that is shown multiple times for different situations. A number of scenes are cut off prematurely while the actors are still speaking.

Apart from the science fiction elements, it's a pretty straightforward whodunit. There is one funny bit involving a repeat party crasher, who yells "I got business here!" each time he gets frog-marched out the door. When I mentioned that it's a "Jordan" movie, I meant that it has at least one character whose last name is Jordan or Jordon. Both spellings qualify. The character in this case is Donald M. Jordan (Charles K. French) the head of the Continental Tel-E-Vising Corporation.

A few New York City addresses are shown in this film. In looking up one of them, I came across this interesting vintage publication made by and for employees of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) - World Wide Wireless:
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/ARCHIVE-RCA/RCA-World-Wide-Wireless/RCA-World-Wide-Wireless-1921-08.pdf

That address turned out to be the Woolworth Building.

Cloak & Dagger (1984):
Davey Osborne (Henry Thomas) is a young boy with a vivid imagination and an obsession with RPGs and video games finds himself embroiled in a real-life spy game. The trouble is that no one believes him except his imaginary friend, fictional action-hero Jack Flack (Dabney Coleman). Davey's mother recently passed away, and both he and his dad (also Dabney Coleman) are having a hard time adjusting. While his dad throws himself into his already demanding military job, Davey spends his time playing games and retreating into his imaginary world. He doesn't have any friends, save for the little girl next door Kim Gardener (Christina Nigra), and Morris (Bill Forsythe) the big nerd who runs the game store at the local mall.

This is a good movie for fathers and sons, and a fun action-adventure movie for kids. I was nine when Cloak & Dagger came to cinemas in 1984. I don't specifically recall seeing it that way. That was a big year for going to the movies with my grandmother. Splash, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Police Academy, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and The Muppets Take Manhattan all came out that year. I do recall being disappointed that I couldn't get the Cloak & Dagger video game for my Atari 2600.

The fascinating story of that game, a real video game that Atari had in development before the movie was in the works, can be found among the trove of extras on the Blu-ray edition, and also on Youtube. Vintage Arcade Gal discusses the history of the game, while performing a complete restoration/reconstruction of a playable Cloak & Dagger arcade machine:
Cloak & Dagger: The Atari Arcade Game by Vintage Arcade Gal of The Arcade Workshop Chronicles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prsi5XZFgYM

Another featurette that I really enjoyed was the then and now of the San Antonio filming locations. A number of key action scenes take place along the San Antonio River Walk, and in the Japanese Tea Garden:
Then & Now of Cloak & Dagger filming locations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_zpcyu6dF8

A closer look at the Cloak & Dagger video game itself can be found at the Internet Archive:
Internet Arcade: Cloak & Dagger: https://archive.org/details/arcade_cloak

Jamón Jamón (1992):
I was browsing streaming selections for something with subtitles to watch late at night, when I came across this title. I had heard nothing but negative things about director Bigas Luna, but I didn't want to pass judgement without actually viewing some of his work. He did not disappoint. Believe the hype. He is not for everyone. Something gross and/or sexual happens often with food and/or animals in multiple scenes, and in more than one movie. It's like his thing. Misogyny, humiliation, and degradation are also things he likes. Great cinematography though! Both Jamón Jamón and Golden Balls benefit from the visual stylings of cinematographer José Luis Alcaine, who was probably best known for Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989) at the time this was made.

Ham Ham, that's ham as in meat, not as in radio, is the story of a pair of socioeconomically mismatched young lovers, Silvia (Penélope Cruz) and José Luis (Jordi Mollá). I wouldn't describe them as star-crossed, more like bull's testicles-crossed. Silvia works in an underwear factory owned by José Luis' parents. His domineering mother, Conchita (Stefania Sandrelli), pretty much runs the place. She also runs her household, her husband, and her son. Castrating bitch would not be an unfair description. No son of hers is going to marry a lowly seamstress. She contrives a scheme to sink their relationship.

Javier Bardem plays Raúl a meat delivery man, aspiring matador, and newly hired underwear model handpicked by Conchita herself. Raúl is poor like Silvia. Approached by Conchita with an offer of cash and a new motorbike, he readily agrees to play the part of lothario.

I appreciated the contrasting family dynamics. Silvia's family is tight-knit and well-adjusted despite their financial disadvantages. Silvia's alcoholic father is absent for the most part, but she and her mother take care of themselves and the rest of the family just fine without him. Her wishy-washy boyfriend's family is radically dysfunctional despite their privilege and wealth. They are deeply unhappy people. They are also frequently, inappropriately horny. Maybe it's a side effect of building an empire out of underwear.

The characters are not listed by their names in the credits. Raúl, Javier Bardem's character, is billed as El chorizo. Jordi Mollá's character José Luis is El niñato. It's the same with Golden Balls. Character names are replaced with a word or phrase that describes either their nature or function within the story. This was certainly an interesting debut for Pen´lope Cruz. She was seventeen at the time of filming. Her character is listed in the credits as La hija de puta. I do not wish to continue exploring the works of Bigas Luna, but I wouldn't rule out watching this again.

The World's Greatest Sinner (1962):
Clarence Hilliard (Timothy Carey) has a good life with his wife and daughter. They live comfortably in a nice house. They even have a horse, and a gardener, yet Clarence is dissatisfied. He yearns to be somebody, but not just anybody; Clarence wants to be God. His methodology for achieving divinity begins with learning to play the guitar so he can put on rock and roll shows to influence and seduce the youth of America. He develops a cult-like following, and rebrands himself as God Hilliard, which naturally leads to a run for political office.

This is not a good movie. It might be one of the worst movies ever made, but as train wrecks go, it's a damn good one. It's worth it for the spectacle of Timothy Carey dressed head-to-toe in gold lamé, stomping, gyrating, and flopping all over and off the stage like a cross between Iggy Pop and a charismatic revival preacher. There are a number of salient parallels to the present political predicament of the United States. I'm sure it all seemed quite far-fetched back then. The World's Greatest Sinner was written, directed, and produced by Timothy Carey. Frank Zappa composed the score.

Demon Pond (Yashagaike - 1979):
I love how this eerie tale introduces the main character without narration or expository dialogue. The audience is simply presented with a man travelling alone on a train, then left to deduce from his outdoorsy attire, the field guides he carries, and the map he consults that he is a botanist on his way to a place known as Demon Pond.

Once off the train, he treks through forests and fields until he arrives at a seemingly deserted rural village. He has hiked a long way and is very thirsty, but he finds no water. The whole area is clearly affected by a severe drought, and the village well has gone dry. He pushes onward until he comes upon a ruined shrine at the foot of a mountain above the village. He encounters a ghostly pale young woman doing some washing in a stream near the shrine. The surrounding area does not appear to be suffering from lack of water.

Although reluctant at first, she offers him food and drink. She tells him that she and her husband are caretakers of the shrine, living in a storehouse on the property. The shrine is ruined, but its bell still stands, and it must be rung three times a day for the village below. Higher up the mountain is the lake the botanist seeks.

While the botanist enjoys refreshments, the villagers down below prepare for a visit from a government official. Appropriately, he is an arrogant windbag with nothing but the worst ideas for solving the village's water crisis. He gleefully plays upon the fears and mob mentality of the superstitious locals.

There are supernatural elements to the story. There is a legend about a dragon that supposedly lives in the lake. There is also a demon princess who prances about the woods surrounding the lake. The demon princess is in a long distance relationship with a demon prince who lives in a lake in another city, and she likes to read his love letters during her nightly stroll.

If there is a lesson here, it's be careful what you seek; you might find it.

Huevos de Oro (1993):
Golden Balls has much in common with The World's Greatest Sinner, except that none of the characters are the least bit likable, pitiable, or even amusing. That lack of emotional investment takes all the satisfaction out of the inevitable comeuppance.

Javier Bardem plays, Benito González, an architectural engineer full of self-aggrandizing, crotch-centric ambition. With little notoriety and even less money, he sets out to build the world's tallest skyscraper. After his first love is unfaithful to him (after he treats her like shit), he becomes a serial womanizer (as if he weren't one already), and indulges in all manner of excess. The women have names, but you wouldn't know it from the closing credits, where they are designated by weight. Benicio Del Toro has a small but very active role as Benito's gardener, and it was the only part of this downward spiral that I truly enjoyed.

Flunky, Work Hard! (Koshiben ganbare - 1931):
It's a short film about rival door-to-door insurance salesmen from Mikio Naruse the director of When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960), which is one of my all time favorite movies. A door-to-door insurance salesman has an awful and humiliating day at work, and when he finally makes a sale, it comes at great personal cost. I was drawn by the goofy title and director provenance, but I don't recommend this.

The Decameron (2024):
The darkly amusing onslaught of plague rats animation that begins each episode is what sucked me into this vortex of ruthlessness and passion. It's nothing like the 1971 film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It's inspired by the source material not based upon it. Since it's so new, having been released only two months ago, I won't go into too much detail.
Some nobles and a handful of their servants seek to escape the Black Death (bubonic plague) by holing up in a luxurious villa at the owner's invitation for what is supposed to be a grand celebration. If that sounds a bit like The Masque of the Red Death, it is. The celebration doesn't go off quite as planned. For one thing, their host is absent from his own engagement party. The few remaining servants at the villa convey his fond excuses, but it soon becomes evident to his guests that something is amiss. Everyone remains calm and mannerly at first, but circumstances involving but not limited to several uninvited and unpleasant guests cause the situation to devolve into a debauched fight for survival.
My spouse described it as The Masque of the Red Death meets Breaking Bad. I agree in that it's tough to remain sympathetic toward any one character from start to finish or even have sympathy for them in the first place. Some are more insufferable than others, but the one I initially found the most repugnant became the one I most adored by the end. It's infuriating and heartbreaking, but it's also hilarious, and a little sexy. It's a clever dark comedy made for mature audiences. I would describe it more like The Black Adder meets The Masque of the Red Death with perhaps just a hint of Flesh + Blood (1985). I'm not singling out any of the actors because everyone in this is brilliant. I look forward to more projects from series creator Kathleen Jordan.

Laapataa Ladies (2023):
I had a feeling this one would be special. The animated opening credits are sweet and romantic, plus they thank Indian Railways. It's a promising start.
Laapataa means missing or lost. The story has romance, drama, comedy, feminist subtext, and trains. The humor takes jabs at patriarchy, misogyny, religious and cultural taboos, and corruption in law enforcement. For example, when accompanying your newlywed buddy to the local police station to report his bride as missing, you might advise him to remove the nice watch he was given at his wedding, so the cops can't demand it as a bribe.
Inspector Manohar (Ravi Kishan) is quite a character. With his constant tobacco chewing, he is almost a cartoon with the faces he makes. Despite a harsh introduction in which he has an old lady sing to get her son's bail reduced, he is actually competent at his job and a relatively decent person.
At the heart of the story are two newlywed couples, Deepak Kumar (Sparsh Shrivastava) and Phool Kumari (Nitanshi Goel), and Pradeep Singh (Bhaskar Jha) and Jaya Tripathi Singh (Pratibha Ranta). They are just two of many couples that have held their weddings on the same auspicious date. The brides are identically attired and completely veiled. No one can see their faces, and the ladies can hardly see anything through their veils.
Several such couples board the same train. The two aforementioned couples are seated in the same compartment. It's the middle of the night when the train stops at Deepak's village. In the darkness, he mistakes Jaya for Phool. He doesn't realize his error until he arrives home with her and his parents lift her veil. Phool is left on the train with Pradeep, who mistakes her for Jaya. Phool realizes that something is amiss as soon as she gets off the train. She hides from Pradeep and remains at the train station.
Solving the mix-up should be as simple as taking the women back to their husbands, but a married woman accepting a ride from a strange man would be a disgrace. They also can't return to their parents' homes without bringing dishonor. The ladies themselves complicate the matter. Phool is very young and has never left home before. She doesn't even know the name of her husband's village. Jaya is deliberately deceptive and gives the authorities false information. While the police take their time sorting out the mess, the ladies adapt to their new surroundings and cope the best they can. There is quite a bit of ACAB, but the payoff is worth it.

Guntur Kaaram - Highly Inflammable (2023):
Those who remember the old sitcom Happy Days should just imagine a character like Fonzie as the head of a thriving chili pepper growing empire that he inherited from his father. Instead of being able to hit a malfunctioning jukebox just right, he can flick a cigarette and make vehicles explode into the air, then roll over several times before crashing back down to the ground. Lot of ridiculous maneuvers like that coupled with exaggerated macho cool posturing worthy of parody are to be expected. It's also a family drama, and a musical.
Apparently, the chili business can be pretty brutal. Venkata Ramana (Mahesh Babu) was partially blinded as a boy due to violent sabotage committed by a rival chili grower. The turmoil over the tragedy causes his parents to divorce. His mother returns home to her father and his political ambitions. She remarries someone of her father's choosing and has another son. Ramana is disowned and abandoned by his mother in every way except on paper.
Many years later, Ramana's estranged maternal grandfather asks him to sign a document stating that he is nothing to the family and has no claim to his mother's name or assets. His father belongs to a lower caste. Having to acknowledge such a son would hamper his mother's political career. Ramana reuses to sign unless and until his mother disowns him to his face.
Despite being embroiled in familial conflict and having a business to run, chili pepper Fonz-Ramana still finds time to fall in love with an Instagram influencer, Amulya (Sreeleela). The chauvinism curve is steep, but he means well. Awkwardly, Amulya is the daughter of Ramana's estranged grandpa's lawyer. Basically, her dad is the guy tasked with hounding him to sign the papers.
I'd like to know what the chili pepper budget was for this production. There are chili peppers everywhere. By basketful and truckload, bright red chili peppers are a feature of almost every dance number and fight scene. They are flying through the air, strewn all over the ground, mounds and mounds of chili peppers.
Perhaps it's just the luck of the draw, but Guntur Kaaram reinforces my association of Telugu language movies with over-the-top action epics featuring an abundance of naughty (by cultural and religious standards) behavior such as smoking, drinking, and dance numbers in which members of the opposite sex grind against each other. When Ramana and Amulya dance together for the first time, they've both been drinking, and Ramana smokes while they're doing the Bollywood bump and grind.
I needed a late-night movie with subtitles that I could watch with the sound turned down. It runs a little long, but the dance numbers make up for it. I could have done worse.

Chabuca (2024):
I thought I knew how this story would end. I have seldom been so glad to be completely wrong. For those not familiar with Ernesto Pimentel whose life is the subject of this biopic, don't look up any information beforehand. Just take the incredible ride this movie offers.

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967):
From this entry on down, I probably should just apologize over and over again, but I'm not going to do that.
Anyone who has followed these movie lists of mine for an appreciable length of time knows that I hold Polanski's The Ninth Gate in high regard. If I were to write a best movies of all-time list, it would be on it. Of course, I'm also known for being partial to Luciferian themes.
My spouse introduced me to The Ninth Gate shortly after I moved in with him. The only Polanski film that I had seen prior to that was Rosemary's Baby. After watching it, I wanted to see something closer to the beginning of Polanski's career as a director. We had a brand new subscription to a then seven-year-old DVD rental service by the name of Netflix. The Fearless Vampire Killers was our fifth DVD rental. While not the first feature length film from Polanski, I chose it because it stars Sharon Tate and the director himself along with Jack MacGowran. I like that it sort of spoofs the serious Dracula films from production companies such as Hammer Studios that were popular during the same decade. That's not to say it isn't a straightforward vampire movie, but it benefits greatly from being able to laugh at itself from time to time.
Seasoned vampire hunter, Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran), and his young apprentice, Alfred (Roman Polanski), clearly realize the absurdity of the predicaments they get into as they try to rid a small Transylvanian village of a persistent vampire with a big appetite. Count von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne) has already drained several of the locals dry by the time the hunters arrive. The villagers are afraid to confront him. They lock their houses up tight at night, drape garlic wreaths everywhere, and perform folk rituals meant to ward off evil. It's obvious that none of it works because people keep getting bitten. The hunters set up shop at the local inn, where Alfred falls in love with the innkeeper's daughter Sarah (Sharon Tate), who promptly gets abducted by the count.
There are two different versions of this movie. The easiest way to tell them apart is the opening credits. If it doesn't begin with a goofy cartoon of Professor Abronsius and Alfred fighting a vampire, it's the original cut as intended by the director, which was released under the title Dance of the Vampires. The version with the cartoon prologue is as MGM edited it for release in the United States. It was edited and dubbed to emphasize the comedic bits, and it was given the title The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck. The score was composed by Krzysztof Komeda, who also did the music for Rosemary's Baby. I found out two interesting things about Komeda while reading up on the background of this film:
1) He met with an untimely demise in 1969 while roughhousing with a friend at a drunken party.
2) There is a crater on Mercury named in his honor: https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15083
The special features on the blu-ray edition include the promotional short Vampires 101 with Max Wall as Professor Cecil Havelock-Montague, Ph.D., LL.D., B.A.T., who proffers a quick lesson on vampires and how to kill them. The cartoon from the MGM edited United States release, and the original theatrical trailer are also included.

Murder by Death (1976):
I pulled this one from the murky waters of childhood recollection. I needed an inspirational touchstone to jog my memory for something I haven't written yet. There are several other titles that would have been a better fit, but they were either not available or beyond my means to acquire.
I'm not exactly sure when I first saw Murder by Death. It was sometime in the early 1980s. My grandparents wanted to watch it. My grandmother was into it primarily for David Niven. My grandfather liked Peter Falk, who was still making episodes of Columbo when this was made. I recall that both of them doubted but were anxious to find out if Truman Capote could act.
Given his character, the kind of person Lionel Twain represents, Capote being the least experienced cast member was a total advantage. I imagine a modernized Lionel Twain would have a podcast on which he would gleefully deride all the world-famous experts in sleuthing. He would likely engage Inspector Milo Perrier (James Coco) in a social media flame war. I have no doubt that he would be involved in cryptocurrency schemes.
I don't think it could be done now. Much of the dialogue would have to be rewritten. Frankly, beyond rewritten, if someone wanted to make this palatable for the present day, the script would have to be gutted. The bulk of the humor is sexist, ableist, and racist.
Peter Sellers plays Inspector Sidney Wang. The first name Sidney is a nod to Sidney Toler. I guess you could say that Inspector Wang is modeled after Charlie Chan in every way. The most offensive lines come from Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), who is a crude knockoff off Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. Two more Dashiell Hammett characters are represented by Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith). They play their roles much like the original The Thin Man movies. They nailed it right down to the little dog. They're witty, a bit sarcastic, always well-mannered, and any hour is cocktail hour as far as they're concerned. I'm not familiar enough with the works of Agatha Christie to critique Miss Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester) or Milo Perrier (James Coco). Sherlock Holmes and Watson were originally included in this assemblage of the greatest sleuths of fiction, but all of those scenes were cut.
It's dated and highly offensive, but there are a number of silly and relatively innocuous bits that hold up well. Lionel Twain lives at 22 Twain Lane. It's full of dumb little jokes like that.
The first few times I saw this as a kid, Bensonmum, Sam Diamond, and Milo Perrier were my favorite characters. As an adult, most of my enjoyment is derived from supporting characters like Tess Skeffington (Eileen Brennan), and of course, Lionel Twain. Sir Alec Guinness and Nancy Walker make a good pairing as butler and maid. I didn't appreciate Nancy Walker's role as Yetta back then. I was only six or seven years old the first time I saw this. She gives a terrific performance despite having no lines.
What aggravates me the most about Murder by Death now is that they had Richard Narita right there but cast him as a sidekick to a white guy doing yellowface. Too young to play Inspector Wang? They could have aged him with make-up. Too inexperienced? Okay, fair enough, but why not pair him with an actor like James Hong, Kam Fong, or even George Takei?
The art for the opening credits was done by Charles Addams. David Grusin composed the appropriately whimsical yet dramatic score. It's worth it just for the clever and stylish opening sequence. It can probably be found on YouTube or somewhere, so you can spare yourself the rest.
I bought the original DVD release. The film is presented as it was shown on television in standard aspect ratio. I wanted that retro feel. It was also quite cheap. The extras include a short interview with Neil Simon about the making of Murder by Death, brief talent bios, the trailer for Murder by Death, and another trailer for The Cheap Detective (1978) starring Peter Falk.
In the interview, Neil Simon mentions that he didn't want Truman Capote. He had a few other actors whom he doesn't specify in mind. I'm glad he didn't get his way on that. He talks about how Orson Welles was tapped to play Sidney Wang but had to turn down the role because he was working on another film. He also reminisces about Alec Guinness reading the script for Star Wars on the set.
There is a widescreen DVD release with a different set of special features. That version has several deleted scenes including one with Sherlock Holmes and Watson. I saw it once through Netflix.

The Jerk (1979):
I picked this out of a $4.99 bargain bin for more or less the same reason as Murder by Death. I was allowed to stay up way too late on weekends at an early age. I was a fan of SNL by second grade. I like Steve Martin, but Bernadette Peters was the main draw for me.
I saw her on some late-night talk or variety show back then. I don't even remember what song she performed. I just wanted to see more of her. From what I've read, she had a similar effect on Steve Martin. He wrote the part of Marie for her.
The Jerk is a dim-witted tale about a guileless and clueless but lovable rube who leaves home for the first time and stumbles his way into financial success. It's astoundingly stupid and wacky. A dog is smarter than Navin Johnson. The love story is cute. The duet that they sing is sweet. I like that Mabel King is in it. Pepe Serna has a small role as Punk #1. If nothing else, The Jerk teaches an absurd lesson about the importance of product testing.
I have the 26th Anniversary DVD. The special features include: A ukulele lesson for the song Tonight You Belong To Me taught by Ukulele Gal, more shocking footage from the film reels of Father De Cordoba, the original theatrical trailer, and production notes.
I said I wasn't going to apologize, but I think some form of compensation is warranted. For a (much) smarter comedy combined with romance and a little mystery, I recommend Inconscientes (2004). I wish I owned a copy. I could use it to wash off the stink of those last two.
When it comes to that memory jog I mentioned earlier, the optimal selections for that special purpose are Night of the Witches (1970), The Uncanny (1977), Satan's Cheerleaders (1977), Tourist Trap (1979), Motel Hell (1980), Tales from the Darkside, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Ray Bradbury Theater, and Night Flight. I have two out of all of those, and I'd give them both and more for Night of the Witches.

The Puppet Films of Jirí Trnka (2000):
A showcase of the works of master artist, animator, and craftsman, Jirí Trnka, consisting of five shorts, one feature length film, and a short documentary:
Story of the Bass Cello (Román s basou - 1956) - A musician gets himself into a predicament when he stops for a swim on the way to a gig.
Song of the Prairie (Arie prerie - 1949) - It's good cowboy versus bad cowboy with a damsel caught in the middle. This cute and corny short has incredible action.
A Drop Too Much (O sklenicku víc - 1954) - A biker by the name of Bill demonstrates the perils of driving while drunk.
The Merry Circus (Vesely Cirkus - 1951) - Colorful paper cutouts astound and amaze children of all ages.
The Hand (Ruka - 1965) - An intrusive giant hand and a sculptor who just wants to make flowerpots serve as clever commentary on life and art under an oppressive regime.
The Emperor's Nightingale (Cisaruv slavík - 1949) - A caged bird teaches a caged emperor a priceless lesson. Narrated by Boris Karloff.
Jirí Trnka: Puppet Animation Master (1999) - This documentary shows Trnka at work and details his creative process.

Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017):
The weak may become strong given the right tools. Villains may become heroes given the right motivation.
I never thought I'd describe a movie as both dark and heartwarming. Errementari is a dark and heartwarming fantasy horror based upon a Basque fable. It's a little bit Pan's Labyrinth and a little bit The Devil and Tom Walker, and it's spectacular. It left me with a better feeling than I had at the end of Pan's Labyrinth.
I highly recommend it but with a warning to sensitive viewers. There are several extremely violent scenes. Although it contains children, and one of its protagonists is a sweet little orphan girl, it is not suitable for children. It opens with the execution of POWs. There are shootings, beatings, hangings, child abuse, domestic violence, intense verbal and physical bullying, torture, and a few mishaps involving bear traps.
The animated sequence in the opening credits is amazing. Hats off to the entire cast and most of all Eneko Sagardoy for his portrayal of the demon Sartael. The makeup, special effects, visual effects, and art departments deserve a ton of accolades for the outstanding work they did on the gates of Hell, its seemingly endless queue of damned souls, and their demonic overseers.
I streamed this, so I didn't have the luxury of any behind-the-scenes vignettes.

Picture a Scientist (2020):
It's every bit as good as I had heard but challenging to watch. It's an emotional rollercoaster. Depending upon the viewer, it might be triggering. It uplifts with scientific passion, the elation of discovery, and the wonder of innovation, then plummets into the horror and despair of these brilliant women whose blossoming careers were impeded or derailed by sex pest senior colleagues, institutional power dynamics, and systemic sexism.

Moon Knight (2022):
Thanks to this heavy, antiheroic, Egyptology themed, psychological thriller from Marvel (and when I chose to watch it), I can say I got a hippopotamus for Christmas. Take care, watching it may unbalance your scales. I appreciated the gods' affinity for quality tailoring and timeless fashion.

The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955):
No amount of Hollywood sensationalism could compare to the sordid and shocking true story upon which this film is based. They had to omit and downplay certain things to get it past the censors. I suggest doing some reading about the life of Evelyn Nesbit, and the Thaw-White murder. Before or after the movie is at the viewer's discretion.
I had read some beforehand, but I missed the part about actor John Barrymore. The movie missed it too. His name is casually mentioned in reference to one of many bouquets sent by one of many would-be suitors of young Miss Nesbit. He was much more to Evelyn than that. He even testified at the murder trial. Perhaps he was left out to appease the censors. Perhaps old Hollywood preferred love triangles to the extent they cut off a corner. Barrymore was working as an illustrator when he met Evelyn. Compared to the other men, he was the closest to being her peer in that he was young, aspiring, and poor. Evelyn would have been better off, or maybe Thaw would have bumped him off. The world will never know.
Even without the sensational story, the CinemaScope gorgeousness is enough to hold interest, especially when it comes to Joan Collins. Some of the costumes are so loud you can practically hear them. The song and dance numbers are trivial as it is only indirectly a musical.
Evelyn went to work as a model and chorus girl when she was fifteen or sixteen. The uncertainty about her age stems from her mother adding a few years to skirt child labor laws. She was young. Really young. Too young. For all of it. It's hard to believe that she was in love with either man. She was torn between a married millionaire thirty years her senior and a volatile millionaire twice her age who stalked her every move.
Speaking of age, a peculiar exchange takes place between Mr. and Mrs. White. The two are having dinner at a swanky restaurant, when Elizabeth White (Frances Fuller) mentions to her husband, Stanford White (Ray Milland), that they are both forty-eight, which makes her twenty years older than he is. Even more unsettling, she looks twenty years older than he does. I'm dying to know if and how they aged her. I don't know what make-up effects were available at that time. Whatever they did, she looks closer to seventy than fifty. I found that scene terribly vexing. For comparison, Joan Collins was forty-eight when she joined the cast of Dynasty.
I was also vexed by the lack of facial hair on Ray Milland. Look at any photo of the real-life Stanford White. The dude had a massive push broom mustache. Although the movie mentions Pennsylvania Station as one of White's architectural achievements, he did not live to witness its completion. His firm did indeed design it, but the cornerstone would not be laid until almost a year after he was murdered.
Farley Granger plays the violently mentally ill multimillionaire Harry K. Thaw to whom he bears more than a passing resemblance. Glenda Farrell, whom I know from the Busby Berkeley Gold Diggers film series of the 1930s, plays Evelyn Nesbit's mother. She gets in some good zingers. Her youth may be gone, but her sass remains.
By the biggest of stretches, this is a Christmas movie. During the wedding scene falling snow can be seen through a window, and there is the sound of sleigh bells from the street below. The actual wedding took place in April, but Evelyn was born on Christmas.
I rented it on DVD. The special features included a nice segment about Joan Collins brimming with photos from her early career, and what might be the worst movie commentary track by a film historian ever. I don't remember his name, but he doesn't start talking until thirteen minutes into it. Sparse is an understatement. I thought something was wrong with the disc. He utters one or two sentences, then goes silent for about twenty minutes or so. He interjects only a few more times. What little information he provides can be readily found on the internet. That standard is fine for a college dropout who writes silly movie lists on some blog somewhere but not a film historian.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022):
This was so much fun! This was my only intentional Christmas selection. Fans will watch it no matter what, so I'm going to describe it without referencing the franchise or characters for people who might not be interested in those particulars.
A tight-knit group of intragalactic colleagues who hail from disparate cultures, planets, and species seek to cheer up the Earthling among them with a surprise Christmas celebration. Two of them volunteer to head to Earth to find the perfect gift and gain a better understanding of the holiday and its festive traditions and symbols. As with anything to do with Guardians of the Galaxy, the soundtrack is great. I especially liked how they used Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses.

Stella Dallas (1937):
I had endeavored to avoid both blatant and incidental Christmas movies. I didn't even rent my favorite incidental Christmas movie, Akira Kurosawa's Scandal (1950). Damn it! Stella broke my streak.
I was foiled by a frilly flouncing floozy!
The reason for my attempted avoidance was an unscientific experiment. I have this weird thing with movies and time. I have an uncanny knack for choosing movies in coincidence with the calendar. I often nail the month and sometimes even the exact day during which the events depicted are said to take place. The first time I noticed this cinematic synchronicity was the first time I watched The Last Broadcast (1998). The second time was the first time I saw Ravenous (1999). Those were over twenty years ago, and it has been happening regularly ever since.
I watched Stella Dallas eight days before Christmas. When I selected it, I knew that it was directed by King Vidor and starred Barabara Stanwyck. I read the synopsis and a few reviews. There was no indication of Christmas. I thought I had made a safe choice. I thought I could thwart it. I was wrong. There is probably a Jung joke in there somewhere. Up jumped the incidental Christmas devil in the middle of a movie about classism, divorce, child custody battles, and society's scorn for single mothers.
I had seen Barabara Stanwyck in one other movie before this one. She starred as Sugarpuss O'Shea in the screwball comedy Ball of Fire (1941). I had experienced two other King Vidor directorial efforts prior to this, one of them unwittingly. The one I was aware of was Duel in the Sun (1946), which was featured fairly recently on this list. The one I didn't know about until I had researched Stella Dallas was The Wizard of Oz (1939) [black and white Kansas scenes].
I take back what I said at the beginning. Stella is no floozy. The world treats her like one. Classism oozes from every pore of this story. Stella is a poor young lady from a mill town who loves dressing fancy and having a good time. Her adventurous fashion sense is ripped from the pages of the chintzy beauty and gossip magazines that she enjoys reading. Too poor for haute couture, she makes her own clothing, copying then embellishing the designs.
Stella doesn't have much in the way of ambition beyond not wanting to end up a "mill hen". Both her father and her brother work at the mill. She and her mother, played by the delightful Marjorie Main, get them awake and fed and off to work every day. Stella also brings them their lunch. For such a young and pretty woman, it amounts to drudgery. Every afternoon when the mill lets out, Stella gets dressed up, grabs a stack of books, and positions herself by the front gate of her house, hoping to catch the attention of a suitable gentleman. There is one in particular that she desires. His name is Stephen Dallas (John Bolles). He works in the mill's office. Stephen is a temporarily embarrassed millionaire in that he came from money but left it all behind due to a scandal involving his father. Still, he is high-end compared to the men who get their hands dirty.
Stella gloms onto Stephen. He finds her refreshingly quaint. Soon they are married and expecting a child. Stella tries to please Stephen only to discover that he is much staider and stodgier than he had let on when they began dating. He turns sullen and cranky, showing a sudden distaste for everything that drew him to her. He finds fault with her whimsical and flashy outfits, her gregarious personality, and the company she keeps.
To be fair to stick-in-the-mud Stephen, Stella hangs with some insufferable loudmouths, and none louder or more obnoxious than horse trainer and frequent carouser Ed Munn (Alan Hale Sr.). After their daughter Laurel (Anne Shirley) is born, Stephen pressures Stella to conform to his refined ideal. Apparently, all it takes for progeny to be forever shunned by the upper class is for mom to show up to the ritzy country club luncheon wearing a tad too much lipstick and rouge, a frilly floral print dress and a fur stole paired with leopard-print stiletto heels with tiny, tinkling bells dangling from the laces. When Stephen is offered a high paying job in New York City, Stella balks at leaving her family and friends. The marriage fractures, and thus begins the story.
Classism is my least favorite plot flavor. It's a compelling family drama, but it frustrated me. I'll keep my opinions and observations about Stephen and all the other things that stink like fish to myself.
Etta McDaniel, sister of Hattie McDaniel, has an uncredited role as the Dallas' maid.
The DVD had but one bonus feature: Stella Dallas (1925). The 1937 movie is a remake. In fact, it's an almost shot-for-shot remake, plus a few of the actors are the spitting image of the actors in the 1925 silent film.
There was no music to accompany the original as it was presented on the disc. My options were to provide my own music or watch it in total silence. I chose a mix of both.

Cycle (2018):
Family-friendly and charming, but there are times when it takes its anti-materialism message too far to be credible. I liked the notion that anyone from an astrologer sentimental over a bicycle to a couple of thieves can attain enlightenment. I didn't like the astrologer being shamed and socially pressured for cherishing his bicycle.
The bike is a family heirloom passed down to him from his grandfather, but it is also his transportation to work and his daughter's ride home from school. Keshav (Hrishikesh Joshi) is a kind and generous family man. The spiritual moralizing directed at him just feels wrong. It's a bicycle not gold bars hoarded in a vault. He should be allowed to enjoy his humble means of conveyance.
I had no problem with the story arc concerning the thieves. It's heartwarming, plus Priyadarshan Jadhav and Bhau Kadam are funny. They kept me going until the end of the movie.
Really, it was only one scene that took it too far for me. Without giving it away, it doesn't involve the bike directly. It involves a misfortunate client of the astrologer. I found it impossible to believe, so much so that it took away from my enjoyment of the rest of the movie.

The Humans and the Mongoose (El Ens W El Nems - 2021):
Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here below this movie listing to mourn the loss of two hours of my life.
I went looking for some Bollywood fun, but I landed in Egypt. What I found was a haunted house themed hot mess of a romantic comedy laden with gross-out humor, including but not limited to people vomiting on each other and literal toilet jokes. The visual effects and set design are uneven in quality. It looks like they ran out of money somewhere in the Mongoose mansion's basement.
A prospective groom, Tahsin (Mohamed Henedi), goes to meet his future in-laws at their lavish and bizarre mansion. The synopsis says Tahsin is a government employee, but according to the movie, he is the manager of an amusement park's haunted house. I'm at a loss to explain that discrepancy. It doesn't matter anyway. Tahsin meets his bride-to-be by getting hit by a car. They are an unlikely couple. She insists he spend some time with her folks before the wedding.
There are echoes of Nothing but Trouble (1991). There is a freaky funhouse mansion, and an apropos of nothing musical performance in the middle of the movie. Even though I didn't recognize the artist, and the music wasn't exactly to my taste, it's one of the best scenes. Looking it up was tough due to the language barrier, but I did manage to find it:
مهرجان هابا - جنرال اوكا و محمد هنيدي و بيومي فؤاد - من فيلم الانس والنمس: Haba Festival - General Oka, Mohamed Heneidy and Bayoumi Fouad - from the movie Al-Anas wa Al-Nems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_GWrbzn9k8
While I don't recommend The Humans and the Mongoose, it could be an interesting double feature with Nothing but Trouble.

Babette's Feast(1987):
I watched this twice while I had it.
The first time, I was completely fucking smashed, and the movie was great! The reason I was completely fucking smashed had to do with a bottle of prosecco that was opened in celebration of a bad neighbor situation of six years coming to an end. Don't cry for them; they have another place to live.
The second time, I was sober, and the movie was great!
It's a sumptuous feast of profound gratitude, sexual repression, lost love, and fanatical religious devotion. If that doesn't sound like a good time, trust me, it is. This could have been a very dreary, melancholy story.
The village, which seems part normal village part religious commune, is bleak and austere. The members of the religious group(cult) all dress very plain in mostly dark colors. They eat very plain food, "bread soup" and fish soaked in milk. They eat the same thing every day. The cultists are all pretty geriatric. Even the youngest members are old.
Two of those youngsters are the daughters of the group's founder. They took his place at the head of the group after he passed away. One quickly gets a sense that they might have made different choices in life if it hadn't been for their obligations to church and family. I won't say how they would have preferred to live or where or with whom. I don't want to spoil it.
Into this dreary, cloistered scene, comes a French maid and cook, Babette Hersant(Stéphane Audran). In need of refuge from the Franco-Prussian War, she is sent to Denmark by an old acquaintance of the sisters, who implores them in a letter to let her stay with them. In return, she offers to serve as their housekeeper and cook.
The same old bread soup and milk-soaked fish suddenly tastes better. Babette lends everything a certain vibrancy. Years pass, then an unexpected windfall grants Babette the opportunity to express her gratitude to the sisters and the rest of the group.
She petitions the sisters to allow her to make an authentic French feast for the entire group to mark the occasion of an important anniversary related to the group's founding. They reluctantly give permission. Lavish banquets, lavish anything really, are not in keeping with their faith. As the feast day nears, the supplies begin to arrive, cages of fowl, a turtle, copious produce, fancy dishes and crystal goblets, and cases upon cases of the finest wine, champagne, and cognac. The sisters begin to have second thoughts, but the feast is held anyway.
Another old acquaintance of the sisters, of one sister in particular, gets himself a last minute invitation to the feast. He is a soldier, not a member of the group. He escorts his very elderly aunt to the feast.
Piety meets sensuality at the dinner table for a meal and an evening that could be described as a religious experience. Fond feelings are remembered, old grudges melt away, hearts are mended, and then, a surprise.

Loki(2021):
I liked everything about it. I liked the set design. I liked the costume design. I liked the interpersonal dynamics of the characters both major and minor. I liked the TVA retro-future aesthetic. TVA stands for Time Variance Authority, not to be confused with Tennessee Valley Authority.
I strongly recommend this, especially for those who were underwhelmed by some of the Marvel movies. The movies tend to be action, action, action, action. This series is a welcome change from that. It's distinctive, memorable, and a lot of fun.

The Bad Seed(1956):
Hysterical in every sense of the word. It has an intensity in the same vein as Mommie Dearest, and has earned similar cult status. Some say it's too over-the-top, fraught with too much scenery chewing, but I say the characters' reactions are believable and appropriate.
A mother slowly discovers the horrifying truth about her seemingly perfect little girl. Patty McCormack plays the exceedingly sweet and polite, too-good-to-be-true, somewhat spoiled little darling, Rhoda Penmark. Nancy Kelly plays Rhoda's mother, Christine Penmark. William Hopper(son of Hedda) plays Rhoda's often absent, soldier father, Col. Kenneth Penmark.
Nancy Kelly's performance here has earned a great deal of both praise and derision, even howls of laughter. She gets nothing but praise from me. Her character is somewhat neurotic, a tad frazzled, seemingly always on edge. She harbors a dark secret from her own youth. Her overall demeanor and her highly charged reactions stem from that past trauma, and the considerable effort she has made to suppress it.
When I watch her performance, she is as natural as sunlight. At the climax of the hysteria and horror, she does an intensely physical scene, which involves her repeatedly hitting her hand on a table in a particular way while reciting her lines. It's almost like her hand is keeping time for the nightmarish reality that's unfolding. It's a harrowing scene to watch. It's also the scene that gets the most laughs, which I can understand. It's such a horrifying scene that it makes the viewer want to disassociate. It makes the viewer do exactly what her character is doing by banging her hand on that table --creating a distraction from an unbearable reality. That scene for me is the real climax of the movie. The rest is simply deciding what to do about it.
Not to be upstaged is Hortense. Eileen Heckart plays Mrs. Hortense Daigle. She is the grieving mother of one of Rhoda's classmates, a boy who drowned...accidently...while on a school picnic. Hortense seeks solace at the bottom of a bottle, several bottles actually. Unable to find solace, she pays the Penmark household a few visits to ask Rhoda some questions about her little boy's last moments. She is raw, overwhelmed by grief, profoundly intoxicated, and she knows there is something fishy about her little boy's death. Eileen Heckart knocks it out of the park in both of her scenes. Frank Cady both accentuates and provides a counterpoint to her performance in his role as her quiet, apologetic husband, Henry Daigle.
Then there is Leroy(Henry Jones), who serves as the handyman/janitor of the apartment building in which the Penmark family lives. Leroy is kind of a creeper and an eavesdropper. He barges into apartments unannounced. Every moment between Leroy and Rhoda is memorable. He sees through her, and genuinely enjoys busting her ass about it. Leroy is the character that gets quoted the most by fans of this movie.
In contrast to Leroy, there is Monica(Evelyn Varden). Monica is the elderly landlord/upstairs neighbor to the Penmarks. She completely believes Rhoda's sweet little girl routine, even going so far as to buy her gifts just for being so darn adorable.
The first time I saw this movie, I was pretty young. My favorite scenes were the ones with Rhoda and Leroy. Now that I'm much older, I love Hortense. I was a little bit afraid of her when I was a kid. She is there to make everyone uncomfortable, and she does a fantastic job.
I have a complicated relationship with this movie thanks to my mother. I learned about this movie through her. Very early in my childhood, I overheard her using the title of this movie as a pejorative for me. It had a lot to do with her feelings toward my father. Short version: She was unhappy to have me, and she had convinced herself that I was destined to be "just like my father", whom she had erroneously labeled schizophrenic. After they had split when I was only two, she gossiped all over town about him. She was always eager to share her amateur psychoanalysis of him. I don't know if he had told her he was autistic. I know that he had told a few other women with whom he had been involved.
My mother had realized that I was different, and that I was different like my father. That would have been fine if she hadn't decided that what made us different was malevolent and dangerous. Thus, I was The Bad Seed.

Southern Comfort(2001):
A touching and poignant documentary of the final year in the life of Robert Eads, a transgender man diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It's an intimate portrait of Robert, his partner Lola Cola, his friends, and his family. It moved me to tears more than once.
The title refers to the Southern Comfort Transgender Conference, which has been an annual event since 1991, and features prominently in this documentary.

Vivre Sa Vie(My Life to Live - 1962):
Gorgeous black and white cinematography, and a couple of catchy tunes were the finer points for me. I could have done without Jean-Luc Godard's fetish for filming the backs people's heads while they are talking. It's stylistic but annoying.
Anna Karina plays a young woman who can't make rent on her record shop clerk paycheck. She turns to prostitution to keep a roof over her head. She is utterly clueless, and quickly gets taken advantage of by a local pimp.
She meets a young man, whom she picks up as a client in probably the most memorable scene of the film. She dances around him seductively while he tries to play pool. Gradually, they fall in love. He wants her to quit and marry him, but the pimp stands in their way.
Everything is beautiful except the story. The story is sad and infuriating. The biggest problem I had was that she and her Edgar Allan Poe reciting boyfriend didn't just leave. She is in a business that's either illegal or barely legal depending on the laws at the time. All she had to do was pack her little overnight bag and get gone. It's not like the pimp was going to call the cops. All the events that follow are a direct result of their failure to get while the getting was good.
If there isn't enough in the movie to be upset about, there is an extra feature on the DVD version in which sex workers are likened to livestock, and public urinals. It ties in well with the movie. In fact, some of it is quoted in the movie.

The Most Beautiful(Ichiban utsukushiku - 1944):
It's a propaganda film directed by Akira Kurosawa. As propaganda films I've seen go, it's well crafted, high quality stuff, but it doesn't have much of a story, and it lacks truly memorable characters.
It centers around a large group of young women who left their homes in various towns and villages of the countryside for the city to work in an optical lens factory dedicated to the war effort. They all live together in a dormitory on the factory grounds. When not working their shift, they have mandatory drum and bugle corps practice. In the mornings, they all march to the factory together, playing and singing patriotic, morale boosting songs. They'd probably get more work done if they spent less time marching and drumming, and got a few more hours of sleep instead. For occasional fun and relaxation, they play mandatory volleyball games.
There is the young woman who keeps working in spite of a broken leg, the one who tries to hide that she has tuberculosis so they won't send her home, the one who misses her own mother's funeral and later almost drops dead from exhaustion, and so forth. I don't remember any of their names. Chances are, you won't either. Maybe that's the point. The Most Beautiful makes it sound like a beauty contest, but the winning standard here is complete self-sacrifice, the stripping away of individuality, and unwavering dedication to becoming a highly efficient cog in the war machine.

Lady Street Fighter(1981):
Not to be confused with Lady Terminator, which is a terrible movie, but nowhere near as terrible as this one. This is a terrible movie. It's beyond laughably bad.
It begins with mistaken identity, which leads to the torture and murder of the titular lady's sister. That lady who fights streets is Linda Allen(Renee Harmon). She is a secret agent, sex worker, stripper, street fighter, assassin in a sparkly, sparkly dress. There is one scene in particular where she is trying to sneak around outdoors, and her evening dress is shining like a beacon. She has a partner agent, pimp, assassin, ex-boyfriend. There is a strip club. She tells her marks to meet her there, but then doesn't show.
Even though it's minor to the plot, the movie spends a lot of time in the strip club. They wrote it into the script, so they might as well use it. One time Marilyn Monroe lookalike contest winner and gangster moll, Liz Renay, performs a strip routine, which might be the only not terrible part of the entire movie.
Oh, and something about a tape that all the bad guys want hidden in a teddy bear.