the dulcedemon writings

My holidays would have been incomplete without the now annual viewing of Akira Kurosawa's festive and oddly cathartic for me personally Scandal (1950). The first time I rented it from Netflix was at the end of 2019 at a difficult and potentially litigious moment in my life. It resonated with me in ways that I didn't expect. I'm not officially listing it because it has been on here several times since then.
New Year's Eve was the night I chose. I timed it to conclude thirty minutes before the ball dropped in Times Square. It has many of the elements associated with traditional Christmas movies, including a sappy, tear-jerking redemptive arc, and a selfless but sickly child with nothing but goodness in her heart.
Initially, the story doesn't seem to be about Christmas at all. It presents itself as a tale about a famous pop singer who misses her bus then accepts a lift from a motorcycle riding, semi-famous painter. They are spotted and photographed by paparazzi working for a celebrity gossip rag. The writer for that rag crafts some salacious fiction to accompany the photos. The issue goes to press, sells like hot cakes, and a scandal is born.
The beauty of this story is in how it shifts the main character focus from the targets of the tabloid rumor to their sad sack, screwup of an attorney. There is a ton of brilliant dialogue. I get a kick out of the discussion that takes place between the editor and writer prior to printing the story. Basically, the writer has a moment of conscience, and his boss talks him down. I like to think about how that conversation applies to the social media of today. I highly recommend Scandal to be watched anytime but especially during the week between Christmas and New Year.
Rather than do a bunch of holiday themed selections for December, I went with the leftovers of Criterion's Noirvember served cold, plus one title from our DVD collection. Just before Christmas, we started watching a series that was previously unavailable to us. We had heard a number of glowing recommendations. We have watched two seasons so far with one left to go. It has taught us some new vocabulary, and it will probably be on the next list.

The Killer That Stalked New York (AKA: Frightened City - 1950):
It's November 1947. Chanteuse Sheila Bennet (Evelyn Keyes) is returning to New York after a stint of nightclub performances in Cuba. We meet her in Penn Station as she steps off the train. She makes her way upstairs to a pay phone, calls her husband, then exits to the street, where she hails a cab (directly across from the Hotel Statler). All the while, she is being shadowed by a mysterious and imposing man.
Sheila is eager to reunite with her husband. Her husband, Matt Krane (Charles Korvin), is eager to receive the souvenirs she obtained for him. Given when this was made, I think it's interesting that their last names are different. Maybe it's a stage name thing with her being a singer and all.
We have a lady who wants to get to her husband. She has traveled a long way. She is exhausted, sweaty, and nervous. She tries with limited success to lose the guy on her tail. The rest of the details in this noir plot don't really matter. Sheila and Matt and their interpersonal drama are no more or less important than that of anyone else in New York City. Every person in this story is either a vehicle or obstacle for the main antagonist.
From that point on, B grade noir dovetails with the slickest pro-immunization PSA ever made. It brought me a great deal of joy to see so many people eagerly queuing and rolling up their sleeves in order to be vaccinated. They understand that they are protecting themselves while also performing a civic duty to protect their fellow New Yorkers. It's a shame that America has lost that sense of virtue.
A rapid and massive immunization campaign is undertaken. Vaccination centers are opened up all over the city. Door-to-door medical teams are deployed to the city's most overcrowded and impoverished neighborhoods. There are a few anti-vaxxers, but their ignorance is made plain, and a quick bit of public health education persuades nearly all of them.
William Bishop plays, Dr. Ben Wood, the tireless physician who heads a free clinic at the center of the outbreak. If he comes across as a cowboy-hatted hero riding to the rescue, it's because he frequently starred in Westerns. Jim Backus of Gilligan's Island fame plays sleazy nightclub owner Willie Dennis. Whit Bissell plays Sheila's brother Sid, who runs a seedy flophouse. I note him here due only to his uncanny resemblance to Benedict Cumberbatch. Despite it being a bit part, Walter Burke steals every scene he has as Danny "Brainy Danny" a bellhop at the Hotel America. Two years after starring in this movie, Charles Korvin was blacklisted from Hollywood for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities committee.
There is an easy to spot goof involving an APB put out on Sheila. Her height is read out as 5'4", but the paperwork shown on screen lists it as 5'2". It's little things like that, plus clever and insightful (unintentionally hilarious) dialogue that make this movie so entertaining.
In a conversation between doctors and city officials:
"We're going to see the mayor."
"It's Sunday!"
"No one told smallpox it's Sunday!"

From a group of children observing cops and contact tracers descending upon their neighborhood:
"I bet you they're government dicks!"

From a freshly vaccinated hospital employee:
"Smallpox in New York City. Wow!"

I watched this movie in its entirety twice. I watched the sequence following Sheila from the train until she enters the Hotel America five times. Essentially a slow chase movie, it shows a lot of New York City, plus a sliver of Los Angeles masquerading as New York at the end. The focus, however, is not on scenic overviews of cityscapes meant to inspire tourism. The city is presented from a low and tight perspective that often cuts off anything you would have to crane your neck to notice. If this movie were the only reference for the old Penn Station, no one would know of its grandeur.
I took the time to look up the Hotel America because I wanted to know if it had existed. There was indeed a Hotel America. There was also the American Hotel, and the Americana Hotel. I found them listed here along with other ghosts of NYC hotels past:
https://www.nyhistory.org/library/hotel-files
Here is a link to a number of stills from the movie. You can see how low they shot Penn Station's interior:
https://onthesetofnewyork.com/thekillerthatstalkednewyork.html
The story is based on a real outbreak of smallpox that occurred in NYC in 1947:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_New_York_City_smallpox_outbreak

Human Desire (Fritz Lang - 1954):
Trains, Trains, Trains!!!
This movie has more trains than some railroad documentaries I have seen. Trains are seen or at least heard in almost every scene. Even in home interior scenes, look carefully at the artwork and photographs on the walls --Trains!
For a long time, I knew this movie as the Fritz Lang Netflix didn't have. It might have been available at one point, but I was trying to go through his movies chronologically. When it was time for this title, they no longer had it. I put the trains foremost in this write-up because without the atmosphere they create, the story is kind of tepid as noir goes. If Glenn Ford's character were a factory worker or a hotel manager, I wouldn't have given this a second watch. Something I had hoped to find was a railfan blog meticulously identifying the trains and locations, but no such luck. I recognized Trenton, New Jersey only because of the Lower Trenton Bridge: "Trenton Makes - The World Takes". The trains and railyards in the movie are mostly real. The name of the railroad is fictitious. The rest is a mix of stock footage and constructed sets. The Wikipedia entry for Human Desire has all the production information I could find: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Desire
A veteran of the Korean War returns home and resumes his job as a railroad engineer. Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford) eases into his old civilian life with little fanfare. He finds room and board with the Simmons family. Alec Simmons (Edgar Buchanan) is a senior engineer, co-worker, friend, and mentor to Jeff. He and his wife regard Jeff almost as a son and welcome him warmly. The welcome from their daughter Ellen (Kathleen Case) is even warmer. Jeff is cordial but not flirtatious with the young woman. He still thinks of her as a kid.
Alec fills Jeff in on the workplace gossip he missed while in Korea. The juiciest tidbit involves railyard overseer Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford). Stocky and a bit brutish, Carl became the talk of the town when he married a stunning, young blonde. Vicki Buckley (Gloria Grahame) is the type of woman some might disparage as a floozy. She loves to flaunt herself, and constantly teases her husband, but when he leans in for a kiss or hug, she pushes him away. Carl drinks out of frustration. He suspects his wife is unfaithful. Alcohol exacerbates his anxiety and explosive temper.
It's implied that Vicki has a risqué past. She was working when she met Carl, but her profession isn't specified. Later, at a pivotal moment, she complains about how sick and tired she is of being pawed at by men. She tries to make her marital discontent Jeff's problem after encountering him one night on a train to Los Angeles.
It's kind of funny how the rest of the plot almost takes a backseat to Jeff's romantic dilemma. Will he fall for the sultry blonde in distress, or will he accompany the sweet and ever so smitten brunette to the annual railroad company dinner dance? In noir movies like this, it's rare for the protagonist to have the option to simply walk or hop the next train away from trouble.

Cannibal! The Musical (1996):
The sky is blue, and all the leaves are green, when a group of miners and their guide, Alfred Packer (Trey Parker), set out on a trek from Bingham Canyon, Utah to Breckenridge in Colorado Territory in the hope of striking gold. Their spirits are high as the get underway. Their hearts are as full as baked potatoes. They are also utterly clueless. After a series of miscalculations and mishaps, the group is faced with almost certain doom.
This horror comedy marked Trey Parker's directorial debut. It's pretty much a class project that he and his friends did in college. It was completed in 1993 and originally titled Alfred Packer: The Musical. It was shown only in Colorado. The story loosely follows the historical account of the ill-fated 1873 prospecting expedition led by Alfred Packer and his subsequent trial for murder. The songs are a little bit Oklahoma! in tone but with comedic lyrics.
In 1996, it was picked up for general release by Troma Entertainment and given its current title. It enjoys longevity not only on DVD but also as a stage production put on by small theater ensembles, and university and even high school drama departments. The script is available online.
The DVD includes a special introduction by Lloyd Kaufman, progressively drunken commentary by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Dian Bachar and other cast members, and a plethora of extra features for selection from an amusing but also disgusting animated menu. I don't recall where I bought my copy. It was over twenty years ago. It might have been at a local record store. We like to watch it on or around Thanksgiving. Watching it post-election, it occurred to me that the story could serve as an allegory for Trump supporters. The song "That's All I'm Asking For" and its reprise sum it up best.

The Crimson Kimono (1959):
Not to be confused with the silent drama The Red Kimono (1925).
Opening credits depicting the tranquil solitude of an artist's studio give way to big drama when a burlesque performer by the name of Sugar Torch (Gloria Pall) is surprised in her dressing room by an armed attacker. Los Angeles homicide detectives Charlie Bancroft (Glenn Corbett) and Joe Kojaku (James Shigeta) are assigned to the case. The investigation leads them from the strip club to the local art scene and the Japanese quarter of the city. Their friendship and professional partnership are tested when they both fall for an attractive young artist (Victoria Shaw) who painted a portrait of the victim not long before the murder. James Shigeta pours it out as the emotionally conflicted romantic lead. The cross-cultural dynamics and interracial romantic subplot make it rather progressive for its time.
I have seen Glenn Corbett in one other thing, and that's Homicidal (1961) directed by William Castle, which I also recommend and hope to see again someday. Anna Lee looked terribly familiar to me, but I couldn't place her. She had a role in How Green Was My Valley (1941), which I have seen, but I don't remember her from that. I think maybe her slight resemblance to Laurie Anderson was messing with me. She plays such a weird character here. Mac is a perky and perpetually pickled painter, and police informant. She might look like Laurie Anderson, but she acts like W.C. Fields.
Two actors who appear in The Killer That Stalked New York are also in this. Walter Burke has an uncredited part as a police informant who meets with Detective Bancroft in a dark alley. They don't call him "Brainy Danny". His name here is Ziggy. It's a lot of lines and close-ups for an uncredited role. Paul Dubov plays Sugar Torch's manager Casale. If I'm not mistaken, he was the "Smallpox in New York City. Wow!" guy in the other movie.
The Crimson Kimono is interesting both as a noir and for the cultural strides it tries to make, however ham-fisted.

Someone's Watching Me! (1978):
The working title for this television movie was High Rise, and it's a prime specimen of the niche genre known as telephone horror. In other words, it's a protagonist stares at ringing phones production.
It follows a formula similar to that of Black Christmas (1974), Are You in the House Alone? (1978), and When a Stranger Calls (1979), but it's not a full-on slasher flick. Psychological terror is emphasized over physical violence. At times, it invokes elements of Rear Window (1954). It strays from typical stalker horror targets like babysitters, and sorority sisters.
The chosen victim, Leigh Michaels (Lauren Hutton), has a promising career in live television production. She just landed a position as a technical director at an upmarket network in Los Angeles. The new job affords her a spacious apartment in a posh high overlooking the downtown. She is fiercely independent and guarded about her personal life. She has no qualms about living alone and prefers a casual approach to intimate relationships.
She is barely settled into her new place when she receives the first mysterious phone call. Letters and packages follow as part of an attempt to socially engineer her into thinking she has won a contest. The phone calls become more frequent and menacing. When the police are less than helpful, Leigh and a co-worker whom she befriends, Sophie (Adrienne Barbeau), try to track down and identify the culprit themselves.
As with others of this genre, false apprehension is part of the plot. There is always at least one "Don't worry. You're safe now. We've got the guy. Oops! Sorry! Wrong guy." twist. Someone's Watching Me! is not the best known example of the telephone horror genre. It's absent from this list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls023083862/
I don't think it's due to a lack of quality. Director John Carpenter took a more subdued and suspenseful approach. Physical violence is minimal with deaths happening off camera. I think it gets overlooked because it downplays sensationalism and prurience against audience expectation. Also, Lauren Hutton's character is no delicate hothouse flower. She is not some teenager frightened out of her wits. She is a strong, competent, highly intelligent, and assertive adult woman, who has achieved success in a male-dominated profession. I don't know how American couch potatoes felt about that in 1978, but American voters sure were repulsed by it in 2024.
Coincidentally, I watched this just a few days before Olivia Hussey passed away. I suppose I owe my copy of Black Christmas a watch.

So Long at the Fair (1950):
I was so impressed that I forgot that I had watched it until I checked my notes. This could have been an episode of The Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Oh wait! It was an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Into Thin Air (1955). Fine. So Long at the Fair did it first. Well, not exactly, if you consider The Lady Vanishes (1938). Actually, all of these are based upon the same 19th century urban legend. In some versions, only a person vanishes. In other versions, the person disappears along with the hotel room in which they were staying. In all versions, the missing person travels in the company of a young woman, who is later mercilessly gaslit as she searches for her relative, friend, or acquaintance made in transit as the case may be.
British citizens Johnny Barton (David Tomlinson) and his younger sister Victoria Barton (Jean Simmons) are in Paris for the 1889 World's Fair. After their first night on the town, they retire to their adjoining rooms in a quaint hotel. The next morning, when Victoria goes to fetch her brother, she is astonished to find nothing but a blank wall where the door to his room should be. There is no sign of Johnny or his luggage. The hotel owners and staff insist that she arrived and checked in alone. The guestbook shows only her signature.
Victoria's only hope lies in enlisting the aid of a fellow British national, George Hathaway (Dirk Bogarde), who had spoken with her brother and borrowed cab fare from him on the night they arrived. An underwhelming romance ensues. Jean Simmons is lovely, and David Tomlinson is charming, but the motive behind the disappearing act and the extreme gaslighting didn't sit well with me. So Long at the Fair was directed by Terence Fisher, who went to work for Hammer Films just one year later, setting himself on the path toward a long and fruitful career.

Fallout (2024):
The greatest worry about movies and shows based upon video games is that they won't live up to the expectations of the players. That is not the case with Fallout, which as per my expectations is near perfection.
I've played only Fallout 4 and Fallout: New Vegas, but season one draws heavily from both in terms of style and story. It was a joy to see certain elements of the game fleshed out and realized.
Codsworth, the Mr. Handy domestic servant robot appointed to the player in Fallout 4, gets a backstory as does canine companion Dogmeat. Dogmeat also accompanies several different characters throughout season one.
The show starts out much like the opening to Fallout 4. It's a lovely sunny day in the suburbs of a major American city, when flash, bam, there goes civilization and a large chunk of humanity. Same as with the game, that's one of two parts where I always cry. The scene when it happens is so well rendered. Walton Goggins and Teagan Meredith give a heartfelt performance.
Despite the similarities, the show does its own thing when it comes to plot and character development. It's complex and engaging enough to stand on its own as a post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy series about the perils of nuclear war and corporate greed. It has a lot more to offer those who have. From a Grognak the Barbarian comic book to a Mr. Pebbles the first cat in space poster, every scene has some object or reference bound to amuse fans of the game.
Then there is the music. Many of the songs are taken straight from the radio station playlists in the games. Of the handful that aren't, I was most pleasantly surprised by Ladyfingers by Herb Alpert. It's perfectly matched to the mood of the scene and the action taking place. It's a little cheeky given what happens to Lucy prior to that scene. Instrumentals can seem timeless, and it fits though I might appreciate it more because I like Herb Alpert.
Another perfect fit is Keep That Coffee Hot. I regret that it was new to me despite my familiarity with its genre and era. I only knew Scatman Crothers from his acting roles in The Shining, and Chico and the Man. I knew he started out as a musician, but I hadn't heard any of his songs until now. Crawl Out Through The Fallout is a novelty song that sounds like it was written just for Fallout, but it was put out by Sheldon Allman back in 1960.
I have a request list of songs from the games for any subsequent season(s):
Grandma Plays The Numbers - Wynonie Harris
Johnny Guitar - Peggy Lee
Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo) - Danny Kaye and The Andrews Sisters
Butcher Pete - Roy Brown
As for characters, there is an unmistakable The Good, The Bad and The Ugly vibe coming from the trio of main characters. It helps that one of them is more or less a cowboy turned gunslinger. Walton Goggins has said that he studied John Wayne and Clint Eastwood westerns in preparation for his role. It's not the Man with No Name AKA: The Good that he appears to be channeling as the The Ghoul. Given the story so far, he has a righteous cause and legitimate grievances, but he is perhaps too ruthless and hungry for vengeance to be truly just. He enjoys killing, especially when he is getting paid for it. That puts him more in line with Lee Van Cleef as The Bad. It's most obvious in the scene with Erik Estrada. He is even missing a finger, albeit for only one episode.
Fresh from Vault 33, Lucy (Ella Purnell) can only be The Good at this point. Like all good vault dwellers, she seeks to de-escalate conflict rather than resort to violence. She is compassionate and believes everyone is basically decent and reasonable. She looks for the goodness in everyone, and she is glad to help others. When push comes to shove, she is more than capable of defending herself and her companions. Lucy is the character that most accurately reflects the player at the start of game. She is naive but adapts quickly. Her catch phrase, "Okey dokey!", points to her optimistic, can-do attitude. Always being glad to help in the game will land you up to your ass in side quests, and so it goes with Lucy, who just wants to find her dad. When Lucy explains her motivation and priorities to The Ghoul, his response sums it up nicely: "The Wasteland has its own golden rule: Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time."
I have mixed feelings about designating Maximus (Aaron Moten) as The Ugly. While fundamentally a good person, he is susceptible to the enticements of power. He admits that he is sometimes jealous of the success of others. He seeks recognition and accolades and uses his strength to command respect. As a member of the militaristic Brotherhood of Steel, he is provided with ample opportunity to achieve his aims. Some of his actions are less than honorable. Overall, Maximus left me with a sense of sadness and foreboding. I want him to have a happy ending, but the path he is on right now won't lead there.
Of all the other characters, Norm (Moisés Arias) is my favorite. Norm is Lucy's brother who stays behind in Vault 33, while she ventures out into the Wasteland. I didn't think much of him at first, but he quickly grew on me. He is very perceptive and has a certain nonchalance about him. Combined with his unassuming demeanor, he is like a vault dwelling Columbo, "Just one more thing...". It's fun to watch him delve into the secret underpinnings of vault administration. What I love the most about Norm is that he is braver than he realizes. He isn't physically strong, but he is smart and resourceful. He is the intelligence based "nerd rage" character I've always wanted to make in the game, but I was afraid would die too easy and often.
Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton) is also remarkable. He becomes a squire in Brotherhood of Steel only to have his first mission go horribly awry. Most of his scenes are a blend of comic relief and gross out. He is like the player at the start of the game who has shit for luck and makes all the bad choices.
The famous line from the games, "War, war never changes.", is uttered twice in season one. It's interesting to note the differences in how and why it is said. Only one character delivers it with the same sad, jaded, PTSD laden tone that it has in the game. That would be the second thing about Fallout that always makes me cry. You can call or text the phone number for Vault-Tec displayed during the show. That's 213-25-VAULT. You might want to turn down the volume on your phone before calling. Just for the record, I would have voted for Woody (Zach Cherry).

Ojitos de Huevo [Translation: Little Egg Eyes AKA: Nothing to See Here] (2023):
This was the winner by far, and I had it slated for the top spot, but that was before I came down with ghoul fever. I discovered it late one night after a traumatic musical experience (explained in the final entry below).
My intention was to watch a single episode, then go to bed. It was so engrossing that I binged the whole series and went to bed well after sunrise. I'll admit that I'm an easy sell for stoner main characters, though I can't say I've ever smoked through an apple. Almost instantly, I fell in love with the leading duo of Alexis (Alexis Arroyo) and his best friend Charly (Kike Vázquez).
The first season of the show tells the semi-biographical story of blind comedian Alexis Arroyo, beginning with him leaving home for Mexico City and leading up to his first break into stand-up comedy. Charly, who has cerebral palsy, serves as his biggest cheerleader and eventually becomes his manager. Along the way, they make a lot of friends and meet many interesting people, several of whom are disabled.
I was particularly impressed with Azul (Paola Fernández). Her disability of inappropriate laughter is easily mistaken for deliberate rudeness. Without going into the details of my largely invisible disabilities, I'll just say that it was profoundly cathartic to witness that kind of representation. People can be really nasty toward those who have nervous or inappropriate emotional responses. I have far more serious issues than that, but the nervous laugh, which is an anxiety induced vocal tic in my case, brings out the catty side of people like no other. Maybe it's because I'm autistic but scrutinizing a person's every affectation and intonation has always struck me as the auditory equivalent of phrenology.
When it comes to Alexis's parents, Yuyo (Alejandro Calva) and Lolis (Verónica Merchant), I couldn't help but wonder, since both of them wear glasses, if their different styles of eyewear were symbolic of their contrasting approaches to parenting. Overprotective Yuyo wears thick, rigid, boxy looking frames, whereas Lolis sports enormous, round, windshield-like lenses encased in the thinnest of wire frames. Yuyo's vision for what Alexis can achieve in life is limited and rather staid, while Lolis sees all the possibilities in the world for him.
Watching this series made me feel not just validated but liberated in so many ways, or as the saying goes, I felt seen. It succeeds in depicting the imposition of constant self-advocacy, while also making it uproariously funny. It's refreshing to have disabled characters as fully realized persons with all the attendant foibles and emotions as opposed to saintly monoliths of inspiration porn. The stoner humor is a nice bonus. It's best in the original Spanish. I hope for more seasons to come.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973):
This movie was acquired from a drugstore as part of a three-disc set of musicals that was on sale for a mere ten dollars. I could have purchased a fancier standalone version for twice that amount, which really would have cost three times as much after the shipping fee and sales tax. It was too good of a bargain to pass up.
I hadn't seen the other two musicals (listed below) before now, so this one was my sole motivator. Of all the musicals in the world, why Jesus Christ Superstar? It sits at a peculiar intersection of Catholic upbringing and sentimentality. Since the first of those reasons is self-explanatory, I'll detail only the sentimental one.
Many years ago, when I was too young and foolish for certain things (but did them anyway), I met a couple of guys while I was ducking a pack of mean girls who were intent on bashing in my face. Maybe someday I'll tell the full story of how I met Jeff and Rod. It's much too much for a movie list entry, and they deserve better.
For our purposes here, jumping in a car with a couple of strangers car to go who knows where to do who knows what seemed like the safest choice at the time. What transpired is a long story for which I'm fairly certain the statute of limitations has expired. It was better than getting beaten and left for dead in a mall parking lot by a bunch of bitches.
Jeff had a thing for this particular musical, so did Rod but to a lesser extent. Rod was happy to sing along with just about anything, especially when they were drunk and high, and they usually were. I never asked Jeff why he was so into it. I supposed his reasons were similar to my own.
It presents a different perspective on Christianity. It puts forth the message of Christ without sermons, guilt trips, judgement or threats. It's full of catchy tunes aimed at enticing young people to the faith. It's pretty heavy stuff if you're stoned. We were disillusioned, bored young people in a small industrial town, you can bet your ass we were stoned.
I had already been acquainted with Jesus Christ Superstar prior to meeting those two. Sometime during first or second grade, I was at home sick with the flu. While I was lying on the couch at my great grandfather's house, Jesus Christ Superstar came on after whatever cartoon or game show I had been watching. This was back in the days before everyone had a remote control to change television channels. My great grandfather had gone out to the store for something, and I couldn't be bothered to get up and turn the dial. Little did I know my conceptual continuity was about to be radically altered.
By the time Judas dropped down from the sky in a white-fringed leisure suit to reprise the theme song, my notions of Jesus, his relationship with Mary Magdalene, the motives and personages behind his arrest and crucifixion had all been overturned. My understanding of Judas was completely transformed. The concepts of Herod as more buffoon than menace and Pontious Pilate as sympathetic blew my tiny six-year-old mind.
All I had known up to that point was formal, stern, behave yourself or else Catholicism. Mandatory church attendance was part of my Catholic school education. The songs had more power and meaning than any hymn I had ever been forced to sing in church. Mass was never the same after that.
It was also the first musical apart from the Wizard of Oz that I had ever seen. I remember being kind of freaked out by the Pharisees bare chests and bizarre chess piece hats. When I was much older, it occurred to me that my discomfort had a lot to do with the fact that Caiaphas was smoking hot. My appreciation for Yvonne Elliman as Magdalene, and Josh Mostel as Herod has only grown over the years. There was a time when I wondered why this movie wasn't recommended or touted by the church as a way to get kids excited about their faith. Looking back on it now, I think they simply couldn't handle black Judas.
Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson are the driving forces. Yvonne Elliman is an oasis of calm. Josh Mostel provides sorely needed comic relief. I had the most interesting "Where are they now?" when I looked up Paul Thomas (Peter). He went on to have an illustrious career as a porn actor and director.
As far as I know, Rod is still alive out there somewhere and has several children and grandchildren, but Jeff is dead. When he died, no one had the courage to tell me. I don't know what happened or why. I only know when. I found out by searching his name on the internet out of idle curiosity one night. It was eleven years after the fact. At the time, Jesus Christ Superstar was streaming on Netflix, so I played it in memory of my dear friend.
I made it as far as Judas running ahead of the Israeli tanks before I collapsed on the floor and had what I think was a seizure. I hadn't had one before, and I haven't had one since. I don't really know what it was other than the most intensely emotional moment of my life. When I finally snapped out of it, I heard the chorus singing, "So long Judas. Poor old Judas."
I cry every time I watch it now, but my tears have nothing to do with religious fervor. This most recent time, which was just in time for Easter, I had trouble again with those scenes of Judas. The whole production took place in Israel. In the lead up to his end, both Israeli tanks and fighter jets appear in the film, and it just hits different.

Flower Drum Song (1961):
This musical was full of pleasant surprises. The first and last which were the opening and closing title sequences featuring the art of watercolor artist Dong Kingman. The most stunning of which was the almost all Asian cast. It was something truly groundbreaking for the time and place this was made. There are no white people in this movie apart from a handful of nightclub patrons and the voice actress behind Nancy Kwan's singing voice.
I felt bad for Miyoshi Umeki being billed below Nancy Kwan, when her character is the one we are supposed to root for in the romantic rivalry. Her face is the first to be seen after the opening credits. She plays the flower drum! She is by all rights the lead actress, but she wasn't as well-known as Nancy Kwan, who at that time was riding on the success of her starring role in The World of Suzie Wong (1960). Worse still, Nancy Kwan kind of upstages her. Really, she upstages everyone except Juanita Hall and Jack Soo.
Initially, I was tepid toward the tradition versus assimilation plot, but the story grew on me with subsequent viewings. I thought the songs were just okay. The flower drum theme, A Hundred Million Miracles, is not particularly memorable apart from its titular refrain. While Fan Tan Fannie is a great number for the nightclub scenes, it's a bit too silly. The strongest is Chop Suey sung by Juanita Hall during a party scene that features some brilliant choreography.
Juanita Hall was another surprise. I mistakenly assumed she was at least part Asian or perhaps a Pacific Islander. I had no idea she was black until I looked her up as I was writing this. I watched the movie three times, and one of those times was just for her. Once I knew, I couldn't unsee it.
All the characters are supposed to be Chinese, but not all of the actors were. Casting seemed to be based on anyone Asian or non-white who could be construed as Asian available at the time of production. It's an interesting assemblage of actors, including Kam Tong, James Shigeta, Reiko Sato, James Hong, Patrick Adiarte, and others in addition to those mentioned above. One of the nightclub patrons (uncredited role) was George Bruggeman who was a stuntman for the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Almost every role he had in his entire lengthy career was uncredited.

Mamma Mia! (2008):
This was watched only because it was packaged along with Jesus Christ Superstar and Flower Drum Song. I vaguely recall the media buzz when it was new. People expressed surprise at such a serious actress as Meryl Streep choosing to be in something so frivolous.
It's frivolous and fun, and there is nothing wrong with that. It's just not my kind of fun. Too cute, and not only that, but it's the kind of cute that feels forced and fake.
The fact that it's a musical aside, I don't know in what universe people act like this in real life. I just know that I never want to go there. I like musicals, but I prefer the classics. Mamma Mia! has that Hallmark feel I so often complain about in family friendly entertainment. The way everyone in village surrounding the hotel would drop whatever they were doing to sing, dance, and even jump fully clothed into the bay whenever a main character would break into song was too much. I think the target audience for this might be moneyed middle-aged ladies who like to get wine drunk and wax nostalgic for their sorority days. They can watch it along with their daughters who are likely to follow suit.
I actually like ABBA. I wouldn't describe myself as a fan, but I'm familiar with more than just the few songs that get radio play. Most of the songs are well placed. I thought there were a couple awkward clunkers, but it could have been because I hadn't heard them before. I was disappointed that they didn't use Eagle, which is my favorite ABBA song.
The best use of song, best choreography, and best acting all happen toward the end of the bachelorette party when they do Voulez-Vous. The sickening sweetness of the rest might be too much to endure for some, but I'm tough. I can take it and all the earworms it inflicts. I'm so tough that I streamed the sequel a week later. The only thing I have to say about Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) is that it's more than anyone should have to suffer for a music video of Cher covering Fernando.
I don't recommend the sequel. I don't even recommend the original. For those who would subject themselves to one or both anyway, I suggest having an after movie planned as sort of a cleanser not unlike an eye wash but also for the ears. In my case, I chose Rob Zombie's The Munsters (2022). As a chaser to the sequel, I went with Ojitos de Huevo (listed above). That's probably why I binged it. I needed to hit a certain dosage of antidote. For a pure ABBA experience, I recommend ABBA: The Movie (1977).

When I began these movie lists about fifteen years ago, I posted them to LiveJournal. Those lists are probably still there. I used the same handle then as I do now.
Back then, I had a few fussy, kind of silly rules as to how they were done. They had to be written in situ, off the top of my head without notes or internet searches. The only exceptions to the internet search rule were for verifying actors' names and performing spelling and grammar checks.
Each movie was limited to three lines. I borrowed that rule from the wonderful person who persuaded me to join LiveJournal. It was also the first rule I threw out.
Once LiveJournal went full Russian, I moved the lists to Tumblr. When Tumblr had its little dust-up over adult content, I stormed off in a huff over to LiveJournal doppelgänger Dreamwidth. I still post the lists to Dreamwidth. I wish more people used it. It's like a sad cross between a broom closet and a morgue for bloggers. Recently, I began posting them to Medium. I'm not sure what I think of that place just yet other than I really like that it has an audio option.
The unofficial theme of this second installment of my three-part kiss-off to Netflix's DVD service is: Change Over Time
Each of the titles listed below reflects that theme in at least some small way. Not every movie was the one I wanted. Availability became contentious near the end. A few of them are more like first and second runners-up to the titles I would have preferred, but they still serve the purpose.
Evolution can be described as change over time. Species evolve over time as does knowledge. Tastes change. Opinions shift. Understanding grows. Bodies age. I'm not as in love with certain titles and genres as I used to be. Others that I wouldn't even have considered fifteen years ago are now appreciated and given high praise.
I'm so old and have been doing this for so long that my brain defaults to "foreign films", and I have to correct myself. That phrasing has fallen out of favor. International movies have changed me. They have shaped and influenced the person I am today. There was a time, even as late as my early twenties, when I actively avoided movies with subtitles. If I didn't make all the jokes about non-English movies back then, I certainly laughed at them. I laughed along with the rest of the ignorant, unsophisticated hicks and bigots.
My experience at that time consisted of a few cheesy, poorly dubbed martial arts flicks with clunky subtitles full of unintentionally hilarious mistranslations, and snooty French art films. Not that I had actually seen any French art films, I had only seen American comedy show sketches that made fun of French art films. Movies like that didn't play in Podunk. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) was the only non-English movie that made it to a cinema near me.
Subscribing to Netflix in 2004, changed all that. Technically, it was Netflix combined with my fond recollection of the movie reviews that appeared in Details magazine back when it was a publication aimed at club kids and denizens of NYC's avant-garde art scene. I was still a subscriber when it became just another derpy men's magazine. Now it no longer exists. Kagemusha (1980) and Raise the Red Lantern (1991) were two of the titles that I recalled from the magazine.
It is my sincere belief that short of travel, movies are the best way to learn about another culture. The things people value, who and how they love, what frightens or angers them, what makes them laugh, their history and traditions from their point of view are all right there on the screen. We are more the same than we are different. In the end, we all want to feel safe and loved. It's a small cinematic world after all.
Note: It's pure coincidence that a movie starring Shintarō Katsu appears on this list. Katsu was originally cast in the title role of Kagemusha, but he had a major falling out with Kurosawa immediately after production began. As much as I like Shintarō Katsu, I can't imagine him as Kagemusha just as I can't imagine Tatsuya Nakadai as Hanzo the Razor.

Fantastic Planet (La planéte sauvage - 1973):
I wish this animation masterpiece wasn't so pertinent to now. Then, now, and for all time, Fantastic Planet depicts the absurdity and horror of life in the grip of a much larger and more powerful adversary. It's the primitive human Oms versus the gigantic, technologically astute, astral traveling, humanoid Traags. At best, the Traags regard Oms as amusing pets or service animals. At worst, they view them as vermin to be eradicated. Parts of this movie have been seared into my memory ever since I saw it on Night Flight sometime back in the 1980s. It offers a distinctive style of animation that is as eerie and transcendent as its subject matter.

Wizards (1977):
Here we have pretty much all of the elements of the fantasy-adventure genre. There are fairies, elves, halflings, ghouls, demons, and of course, wizards. It's a classic battle of light versus darkness within a framework of an extremely dysfunctional sibling rivalry. It's also a blunt illustration of how propaganda and disinformation can be used to foment bloodshed, chaos, and ruin.
For those not familiar with Ralph Bakshi's brilliant animation, Wizards is a fine place to start. I've seen it maybe ten times. The climax is satisfying every time. I'm sad for Peace every time.
It boasts some impressive voice talent. Bob Holt's characterization of Avatar the wizard and Susan Tyrrell's narration are superbly done. Mark Hamill voices a less prominent character for whom things do not end well.
There is a featurette included on the DVD: Ralph Bakshi: The Wizard of Animation. Two things that Bakshi says really stood out to me. One is that he claims it's a kids' film. I'm not sure what age range he had in mind. This is the same guy who made Fritz the Cat (1972). It's not really suitable for very young children. Parental discretion is definitely advised. The other thing that I took from that interview featurette is this quote: "Cartooning and heart is more important than slickness and lying to people. It's not so much how slick they are: It's how much heart they have.". If only that were true of everything in life, the world would be better for it.
Had it been available, Rankin and Bass's The Last Unicorn (1982) might have occupied this spot on the list. Christopher Lee was bound to be mentioned on here one way or the other. I think it's for the best that Wizards was the one.

My Love, Don't Cross That River (Nim-a, geu-gang-eul geon-neo-ji ma-o - 2014):
This was in our queue for several years. The couple featured in this documentary had a marriage that lasted for seventy-six years before time and mortal frailty brought it to a conclusion. I kept passing it over because I thought it would be too sad, and it was, but it's also quite beautiful. It was as comforting as it was distressing for me. At least they had family to step in and help them. Not everyone has that. It was refreshing to see the couple's adult children and grandchildren remain a cohesive, communicative, family unit despite their heated bickering over who had and hadn't done their fair share of caregiving.

Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966):
Do not expect much in the way of historical accuracy from this lavish Hammer production starring Christopher Lee. This is mystical, magical, legendary grifter and rock star of his time, pop culture meets pulp fiction Rasputin. Chistopher Lee gets to don some flashy fashions in this one, including a shiny red tunic, and a large furry hat.
The story begins with Rasputin getting kicked out of the monastery for being a lascivious drunk. He cures an innkeeper's fever-stricken wife in exchange for free room and board. It's a pretty sweet deal until he avails himself of the innkeeper's teenage daughter.
Much later, after he ingratiates himself with the tsarina, he gets set up with some posh digs in which to work his seemingly magical cures. The majority of his clients are noble ladies. They enter his private exam room, then later come out looking flushed and a tad disheveled. The audience is left outside in the waiting room. I imagine it's like a scene from Doctor Who (The Power of the Doctor - 2022) in there.
The extras on the DVD include a promotional spot for the original theatrical release that promised moviegoers a free Rasputin beard with each ticket purchase: "Disguise yourself from evil! Your only hope is to get your free "Rasputin" beard as you enter the theatre to see Rasputin the Mad Monk! (Given to guys and gals alike!)". There is also a commentary track with Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews, and Susan Farmer, plus the featurette World of Hammer: Christopher Lee.
I wanted there to be at least one Hammer film among the last of our DVD rentals from Netflix. Hammer films are the foundation of my love for old horror movies. The first time I saw Rasputin: The Mad Monk, I was younger than the innkeeper's daughter. I saw it on Saturday Night Dead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Dead. That show along with Uncle Ted's Ghoul School and Uncle Ted's Monstermania had a major impact on the impressionable youth that I was at the time. Read more about Edwin "Uncle Ted" Raub here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Raub.
As to why this particular Hammer film, I wanted one starring Christopher Lee because he is one of my favorite actors of all time. I also wanted one in which he does not play Dracula. I had rented Rasputin from Netflix at least once before, but that was many years ago. What I was taken by the most this time around was the intense physicality of Lee's role. He had an incredibly long and prolific career, working up until he died. By the end of it, he couldn't move around too well. His role as Old Joseph in Burk and Hare (2010) comes to mind. Many of his characters are possessed of a stately, quiet menace that it's rather astonishing to see him dancing and fighting with such vigor as he does here.

Hanzo the Razor: The Snare (Goyōkiba: Kamisori Hanzō jigoku zeme - 1973):
There are two ways to consider police inspector Hanzo Itami:
--He is a man who will stop at nothing in the quest for justice.
--He is a dirty pig cop who uses torture and rape as interrogation tactics.
Hanzo uses his tremendous natural endowment (about the size of a loaf of French bread only much, much harder) to extract information from suspects, including but not limited to a nun here. The plot involves a number of botched illegal abortions, and parts of it are very graphic. The Snare is the second film in the Hanzo trilogy, starring Shintarō Katsu in the titular role. Katsu is best known for playing the blind swordsman Zatoichi in a slew of films of which I have seen but a small fraction.
I somewhat ashamedly admit that I prefer Hanzo to Zatoichi. For one thing, there is less ableism. I have watched the entire trilogy. I have a vague recollection of being partial to the third movie: Hanzo the Razor: Who's Got the Gold? (Goyōkiba: Oni no Hanzō yawahada koban - 1974), but it's been so long since I've seen the other two that I can't recall why.
If you notice a resemblance between Shintarō Katsu and Tomisaburō Wakayama of Lone Wolf and Cub fame, it's because they're brothers.

Black Magic 2 (Gou hun jiang tou - 1976):
Black Magic (Jiang tou -1975) was on the previous list, so it's only proper to follow-up with the sequel. It's another round of skullduggery, horndog sorcery, and twisted curses. The clients of the sorcerer from the first movie take over as the main antagonists. In the first movie, Lieh Lo played a lusty fool who skips out on paying the sorcerer after he gets what he wants, and he ends up cursed as a result. This time, he gets to be the big bad sorcerer who wreaks havoc with his spells and hexes. He shares his predecessor's breast milk fetish, so good news for anyone who didn't get enough of that from the first installment.
The protagonists consist of two couples. They are good friends whose professional backgrounds in medicine and science leave them with a lot of skepticism even after unusual, confounding, and unfortunate events begin to occur all around them. Initially, they are trying to figure out some alarming and baffling medical cases at a local hospital, but eventually, they become targets themselves. I really liked the chemistry of this quartet of actors.
In terms of style, Black Magic 2 is almost exactly the same as the first movie, but it's also one of those rare occasions when a sequel rivals and maybe even surpasses the original.

Sex and Lucía (Lucía y el sexo - 2001):
I rate this a solid meh. It's not terrible, but it's scarcely memorable. I squandered one of our final disc rentals on it because Netflix had been recommending it to me for over a decade. It was a regrettable choice for the most part. I could have easily done better, and so could the main character of this movie.
Lucía's (Paz Vega) partners range from quirky to melancholy, and they are enmeshed in each other's lives in implausible and unsettling ways. Lorenzo (Tristán Ulloa) is kind of sloppy. Carlos (Daniel Freire) is kind of dishy.
When taken together with his other partner, Elena (Najwa Nimri), Carlos is one half of the We Saw You from Across the Bar and Really Dig Your Vibe meme.
The love scenes are better than average. That's compared to my average. I have seen some terrible ones. Read the last entry on August's list for a prime example. Thankfully, no one has sex with a chicken or any other animals in this one, but something unbelievable happens with a dog. There is also a nanny (Elena Anaya) involved. The most remarkable thing about the nanny character is how much she resembles Lucía. It's not a strong resemblance, but it's enough to add a bit of confusion as the story jumps around in time. The beautiful island scenery was the only thing in it for me by the end.

On the Beach (1959):
Written by: John Paxton and Nevil Shute
This is my favorite Fred Astaire movie. His character is a perpetually soused scientist and motorsport aficionado. He doesn't dance, and the only song in the movie is Waltzing Matilda.
Although it came out in 1959, the story takes place in 1964, and the future is bleak. Global war spawns a global catastrophe after unspecified countries drop the bomb on each other. The final destination for the radiation that was blown into the atmosphere is Australia.
This is the story of doomed people living what is left of their abruptly shortened lives as best as they can for as long as they can. Some are in denial, some despair, but most of them keep going about their business. They go through the motions of civilization by partaking in cocktail parties, motorsports, picnics, sunny afternoons on the beach. An unsurprising number of them cope by getting and staying drunk as much as possible. What I have said so far spoils nothing. It's all up front.
Ava Gardener plays the beautiful, brandy-soaked Moira Davidson. Gregory Peck is a submarine commander in the U.S. Navy who lost his wife and kids to either a direct hit or the resulting fallout while he survived at sea. Anthony Perkins plays an Australian Navy Lieutenant with a wife and baby at home. We have a father and son on this movie list. Anthony Perkins' father, Osgood, stars in Scarface below.
Waltzing Matilda comprises almost the entire score. It's as inescapable as the fallout. It's in the background as an instrumental and also sung by a group of minor characters. They are a group of men that decided to have one last long weekend of fishing, drinking, and carousing. They sing the song non-stop. It's funny and annoying until it isn't. At that moment, only one singer can be heard. That fabulously distinctive bass voice is that of (Jesse) Delos Jewkes.
On the Beach has been on this list at least once before, but it has been a few years. It became an instant favorite of mine. It's on my greatest movies of all-time list. That's a mental list not a published one. The first time I talked about it, I mentioned how much it reminded me of the Fallout video games. Fans of those games should definitely see it. Really, everyone should see it. It's morbid yet fascinating, and so defiantly hopeful. It makes me cry every time I watch it. The San Francisco fishing scene is probably my favorite. I have not seen the television drama remake which aired in 2000.

Janbaaz (Jaanbaaz - 1986):
Written by: Madan Joshi and K.K. Shukla
The title means daredevil. Welcome to Bollywood Duel in the Sun! That movie from 1946 was featured on the list earlier this year. Instead of Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, and Gregory Peck we have Dimple Kapadia, Feroz Kahn, and Anil Kapoor. Anil Kapoor is probably best known for his role in Slumdog Millionaire (2008).
Kapoor plays Amar Singh. Amar likes to party hard and often. He does all the drugs, drinks all the drink, and chases all the women. He plays dangerous games and takes incredible risks. In other words, he is kind of an asshole. His parents dote on him anyway. He is clearly their favorite son. He knows he can rely on their money and clout to make the consequences of his recklessness disappear. He stands in stark contrast to his police inspector brother, Rajesh Singh (Feroz Kahn).
Rajesh is strictly straight arrow with no exceptions, not even for family. He is no less attracted to danger than his younger brother Amar, but his idea of fun is going after the local drug lord against whom he has a longstanding, deeply personal grudge. The legendary Sridevi appears in flashback scenes as Rajesh's wife. I appreciated Feroz Kahn's resemblance to Joseph Cotton. He was a damn good casting choice.
As for the leading lady, Dimple Kapadia does an amazing job as sultry yet innocent Reshma. In the original, her character faces discrimination and rejection for being mixed race. In this version, it's because she was born out of wedlock. The implication being that her parents were from different castes.
One of the biggest differences between Janbaaz and Duel in the Sun is the songs. There are nine musical numbers spread throughout the three-hour running time. There are a few dance numbers featuring scantily clad, exotic dancers. By exotic, I mean a bunch of white people and a few black people clad in sexy, skin-tight, animal-print, aerobics attire as they gyrate and breakdance all over a nightclub dancefloor. Most of the other songs accompany action montages.
This movie was so epic that it reminded me of Sholay (1975). It then occurred to me that if only Soorma Bhopali were in it somehow, it would be perfect. While it lacks that particular character, it does have the actor. Jagdeep plays Sheru, the esteemed Singh household's clownish butler.
The ending is completely different from that of Duel in the Sun. In my opinion, Janbaaz does it better. I prefer its redemptive ending over the other's just deserts in the desert ending.
A curious thing about the DVD: There are movie previews included on the disc but also attached to the movie itself, including a commercial for basmati rice.

Dishonored (1931):
Written by: Daniel Nathan Rubin and Josef von Sternberg
There are echoes of this film all over The Devil is a Woman (1935), which was the Marlene Dietrich film most recently on this list. Unlike that one, this is good, truly serious, and emotionally gripping. Given a choice of grinning masked men, I prefer Cesar Romero to Victor McLaglen. McLaglen has a creepy Mr. Sardonicus vibe going. Neither actor could pass for a Russian, but who cares. I certainly don't.
It's sort of a spy versus spy versus love story. It surprised me several times. I never imagined a Marlene Dietrich film would make me cry. Her costumes are relatively understated, yet she is still absolutely stunning. The leather trench coat is especially choice. It's refreshing to not see her dressed as a parade float in every scene.

La Muerte Enamorada (1951):
Written by: Ernesto Cortázar, Fernando Galiana, and Jaime Contreras
Several reviews indicated that this movie lacks English subtitles. That it does. My intention was to save it for when I completed my 100th unit of Spanish on Duolingo, which should be a few months shy of a year from now. Since Netflix plans to end the DVD service this September, I don't have that kind of time. This delightfully unique romantic comedy wasn't too hard to follow. Much of the nuance was undoubtedly lost on me, but the heart of the story was easy to grasp.
A relatively young life insurance salesman would prefer more quality over quantity in his years. He is approached by a statuesque and mysterious woman dressed head-to-toe in black. When she reveals herself to be death itself, he quickly changes his tune. He immediately begins bargaining for more time to spend with his wife and young daughter.
Insurance salesman Fernando Rivas (Fernando Fernández) is in luck. It just so happens that La Muerte AKA: Tasia (Miroslava) could use a vacation. Fernando gets a two-week reprieve with death as a houseguest. La Muerte is passed off as Tasia, Fernando's cousin visiting from abroad.
There are a few musical numbers, including a dreamy and elaborate danse macabre that features dancers and musicians in skeleton costumes performing a combined ballet and cha-cha routine. The dance troupe is listed as Ballet Imperial de Oscar Norton. At least one of the songs is performed by a group called Trio Los Cuervos. Information about them is even harder to find than a DVD of this movie. The DVD has a funky menu on which a skull appears next to each highlighted option.

Blonde in Bondage (Blondin i fara - 1957):
Written by: Peter Bourne and Börje Nyberg
I read several negative reviews of this movie before watching it. A few had claimed that it had neither blondes nor bondage. I don't know what movie those reviewers saw, but it couldn't have been this one. Anyway, bondage is meant in a less literal sense.
There is a bevy of blondes and one brief scene of actual bondage in this tight little crime drama. I would peg its genre as a cross between noir and roughie. Setting myself up with low expectations made it all the better. It's not good for a bad movie. It's just plain good. It has some nice old phones and phone booths. It does not have nudity. Even though one of the characters is a striptease artist, there is no nudity. There is no sex in the champagne room, or in this case, the cognac study.
An American publication based in New York City evidently has a big budget for prurient fluff pieces, when it sends its star reporter to Stockholm to write an exposé about Swedish morals and nightlife. He is not there long before he stumbles onto unseemly and illicit activity.
I got a kick out of the editor. His last name is Mulligan. The part is played by actor Ralph Brown. He has only one scene in which he is juggling multiple phone calls while discussing the Swedish assignment with reporter Larry Brand (Mark Miller). He answers every call with "Mulligan!". "Mulligan!... Mulligan!... Mulligan!... Mulligan!... Mulligan!"
Mark Miller is terrific as the reporter. He has the right amount of suave and daring for a heroic lead, yet he is still solidly an everyman. Lars Ekborg is memorable as the sleazy drug pusher and striptease act manager Max. Some might recognize Erik Strandmark from the The Seventh Seal (1957). Here he has a small part as a sketchy nightclub owner. Stig Järrel, a popular Swedish actor who had a prolific career, plays the kingpin of a crime ring. His mansion is password protected. The password is snowflake.
Mistaken identity: I chose this because I thought it was a Something Weird Video release. It's not. It's from Alpha Video. Given the poor quality of so many of their DVDs, which are often murky and have bad sound, this particular title is nearly pristine.

Scarface (1932):
Written by: Armitage Trail, Ben Hecht, Seton I. Miller, John Lee Mahin, W.R. Burnett, Howard Hawks, and Fred Pasley
It must be that many movies have been based on the same organized crime story. A few of its themes were instantly familiar to me and not because of Scarface (1983). I have yet to see the Al Pacino movie. My knowledge of that one is entirely derived from pop culture references. It's familiar to me because I have seen Miller's Crossing (1990) and several other gangster movies depicting the same time period, which may or may not have included a character either loosely or closely based on real-life gangster Al Capone.
Themes:
1) Things are going swimmingly for the Italian mob and its various enterprises until some hothead young upstart gets the bright idea to mess with the Irish.
2) If the Irish mob doesn't get him, one of his dames just might.
There is no, "Say hello to my little friend!", in the original. The closest it comes to anything like that is: "Get out of my way, Johnny! I'm gonna spit!"
I really liked Paul Muni's performance as Tony, but it was the supporting cast that convinced me to rent this title. Boris Karloff was the main draw. He doesn't have many scenes, but every scene he has is good. Osgood Perkins is excellent as the new crime boss elect. I had seen him before in a supporting role in the musical Gold Diggers of 1937. He was known for his work on Broadway more than his movie roles. He is probably better known for being Anthony Perkins' father than anything else. George Raft has a pretty plumb role as Tony's best friend and number one henchman Rinaldo. He also appears in Skidoo below. Vince Barnett provides comic relief as Tony's loyal to the bitter end secretary Angelo. Inez Palange was a bit part actress who most often played an Italian mother. Here she plays Tony's Italian mother. She had an uncredited role as a maid in A Night at the Opera (1935). Ann Dvorak is a treat as Tony's wild and fun-loving kid sister. Poppy, the highly coveted moll men would kill for, is played by Karen Morley whose turbulent career was brought to an end in 1947, when she was blacklisted after testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
The DVD included an alternate ending that was created to placate the censors. I liked both endings. The outcome is more or less the same. The original ending is quick and dirty justice. The alternate ending serves due process justice.

Skidoo (1968):
Written by: Doran William Cannon
Warning:
"This DVD and its content cannot be used for streaming, remote streaming, rental streaming, free streaming or streaming to purchase. The viewer must have the physical DVD disc present in order to view its content."
With that out of the way, here we are back in 1968 again. The top two movies on the previous movie list were from 1968. Skidoo can be thought of as a sort of counterpoint to both of those.
It's similar to Head in some ways. If Head had been presented from the perspective of the cops and politicians involved in the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the bridge with the Monkees as peripheral characters, it might have been Skidoo. Both have music by Nilsson in common. Nilsson also has a cameo as a prison guard. Alexandra Hay, who plays Darlene Banks, appeared in one episode of The Monkees television series.
This movie also has a connection to the Batman television series of the same decade. Several connections actually, three actors who played Batman villains and a couple of bit part players appear in Skidoo. Even the director appeared on Batman. Otto Preminger did two episodes as Mr. Freeze.
It begins with a succession of changing television channels as Flo Banks (Carol Channing) and her husband Tony Banks(Jackie Gleason) fight over the remote control. The first cordless television remote control was created in 1955. There is an interesting assortment of remote-control devices and gadgetry in this movie.
God (Groucho Marx) calls his best wise guy (Jackie Gleason) out of retirement and sends him to jail on a mission to kiss Mickey Rooney. While he is away, his daughter takes off with a contingent of hippies, and Carol Channing plays the cool mom, possibly, the coolest mom. There is an underlying message about bridging the generation gap and giving trust and agency to young adults, while still being there for them when they get into trouble.
There is not much in the way of anti-war messaging despite all the hippies apart from a draft dodging cellmate (Austin Pendleton) and an anti-war poster he puts up in his cell. Prison proves to be a transformative experience for all concerned. My favorite moment out of those scenes is when Slim Pickens, who plays a prison switchboard operator, sings Home on the Range over the PBX before collapsing in a fit of laughter.
Three more noteworthy actors from this everybody is or was a somebody cast:
Arnold Stang - The voice of Top Cat and the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee of the 1980s plays Harry, Tony Bank's best friend, secretary, and henchman.
Frankie Avalon - The pop star plays Angie, the dutiful son of wise guy (Cesar Romero).
(Donyale) Luna - Billed as the world's first Black supermodel, Luna plays God's secretary/bodyguard/mistress. She was ahead of her time. I think she would have had a brilliant career if then were now.
As for what I had said about gadgetry, in addition to the television remote control battle, there is Angie's swinging bachelor pad with remote activated lights, music, and bed. On God's yacht, Groucho uses a crude rendition of a video phone connected to a network of cameras to talk to and spy upon his guests and crew. There is also some goofiness in which televisions are used as short-wave radios in the prison scenes.
Why this movie?
This is not my first time with Skidoo. Sentimental value? As to why this movie at all: Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie borrowed character names from the Marx Brothers for his first two movies. That's how it started. That's what led me to Animal Crackers (1930). If Zombie hadn't included information about Skidoo in a scene in The Devil's Rejects (2005), I might never have known about it. The scene in question is sometimes affectionately referred to as "F*** Groucho!" on streaming sites.
As for why I didn't see my first Marx Brothers movie until 2004 or so, when I was plenty years old:
1) I didn't have Netflix until 2004.
2) I wasn't allowed to watch the Marx Brothers as a kid. Their movies were on television from time to time when I was very young. I did most of my television viewing at my great grandfather's house. I was allowed to watch The Three Stooges, but if the Marx Brothers came on, my great grandfather would change the channel while muttering something about them being "too radical".

Shalako (1968):
Written by: James Griffith, Hal Hopper, Scot Finch, and Clarke Reynolds
Based upon a novel by Louis L'Amour. I seriously don't know WTF the deal is with movies from 1968 on this and last month's list. I didn't plan it.
I was tempted to describe this as a white people yelling at white people as they make one bad decision after another until there are no white people left production, but it wouldn't be entirely accurate. There are several white people left at the end of the movie. They think with their privilege instead of their brains, and it gets them in deep shit with the Apache. Not real Apache, there are none in this movie. The story is set in New Mexico, but the movie was filmed in Spain. The Native Americans are actually Romani.
Some European aristocrats and a U.S. Senator go big game hunting in frontier New Mexico. The group hires an unscrupulous guide who shows little concern for their safety. When they get into trouble, a former cavalry colonel who calls himself Shalako (Sean Connery), comes to their aid. He has his own theme tune and everything! Initially, he meets only one member of the hunting party, Countess Irina Lazaar (Brigitte Bardot). The chemistry between them is pretty good. Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), has a standout supporting role. I have read that there is an uncut version in which more of her character's ordeal is shown. That was not the version I received.
Major deduction for having to fast forward through the opening scene... The countess is hunting a mountain lion. It's an ugly, raucous scene with a crowd of men screaming and making other loud noises to frighten an old and emaciated looking animal into position so that she may shoot it. Even with knowing that Bardot later became an animal rights activist, I couldn't take it. No matter how it was staged, it was clearly unpleasant for the cat.
I didn't hate this movie, but to say that I liked it would be a bit much. It jogged my memory as being one of the old Westerns I had watched with my grandparents many years ago. It's good for Sean Connery or Brigitte Bardot completists. Theirs is an interesting pairing, and Honor Blackman is a nice bonus. The scenery almost makes it worthwhile. The terrain is majestic, austere, rough, and unforgiving.

RRR (2022):
The grandiosity of it is something of a marvel. Everything is high velocity and maximum intensity. Don't let the singing and dancing fool you. This is a hardcore action movie. The style of action is not unlike a popular anime series from the 1990s that featured two high-powered mutants with spiky hair. In other words, it's cartoonishly over-the-top. At the heart of the story is a bromance which is forged and tested under extraordinary circumstances. Their improbable pairing is reflected by the fire and water motif which can be found throughout the movie.
When I saw the song Naatu Naatu performed at the Academy Awards, I knew nothing about the story. At the time, I wondered what was up with all the white people. Well, the story begins in 1920. The scene for that award-winning song is a dance battle between natives and colonists. Although the characters are based on actual historic figures, the story is pure fiction. In reality, these two heroes of the Indian revolution, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem, never met.
Despite all the action, its epic length coupled with the fact that the audience knows things from the start that the main characters don't makes it kind of a slog. It's also one of those movies that starts the action before finishing the title sequence. The opening credits conclude about an hour into the action by slowly revealing the meaning of each "R" in the title.
It's almost but not quite a Valentine's Day movie. February 14th is mentioned, but it's not a holiday in India. It's the date on which the party where the dance battle takes place is held.

Romeo & Juliet (1968):
I can't remember if I was nine or ten. I remember that it was June. It was a week or so after school had let out for the summer. Our last class activity was a field trip to a local amusement park. That might have been where I caught the cold, which turned into bronchitis, which verged on pneumonia, and so I began my summer bedridden.
One afternoon of my two weeks in bed, my grandmother came in and woke me up, turned my television on, and said there was a movie coming on that I could watch until dinner was ready. This was the movie. It lent itself well to my bleary-eyed and breathless situation.
I'm no judge of Shakespeare. As to whether this production is good, bad, accurate, or taking wild license, I neither know nor care. I was entertained by it enough to want to read Shakespeare. Though I opted for the comedies over the tragedies.
When I saw it back then, I was most impressed with the costumes, and Olivia Hussey. I really can't think of any other Juliet. This time around, I was more taken with John McEnery as Mercutio, and Michael York as Tybalt.
I don't recall if I saw a censored version back then. It's hard to understand the fuss over such brief nudity. They were young but age appropriate for the story, and they didn't do anything sexual.
The only thing I found alarming was an interview from 1967 in which Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting seem to get drunk. They are drinking what appears to be orange juice for the entire interview, but judging from the change in their demeanor, I suspect it was spiked with booze. I also noticed that the more stressful it got the more they drank, especially when questions were asked about the nude scene and how it might affect their future prospects. I'm glad it was included in the bonus features because it gave me some perspective on why those two actors are suing for child abuse over fifty years later.

And God Created Woman (Et Dieu... créa la femme - 1956):
For one thing, it's an Easter movie. I spent considerable time trying to think of a gentle and intelligent way to explain why I enjoyed this deeply chauvinistic movie. Not misogynistic, chauvinistic, there is a difference. As far as my explanation goes, all I can offer is a shrug and sorry not sorry. This was not Brigitte Bardot's first film, but it's the one that made her an international sensation. It's the reason why my grandfather and my great uncle would smile at each other at the mere mention of her name, and I don't blame them.
A grand old sugar daddy, a thirtysomething cad, and the cad's twentysomething brother finagle a way to keep the sweetest, most succulent, young lady in the town of Saint-Tropez from being shipped back to the orphanage by her pearl clutching, morality policing, foster mother. Stunningly gorgeous Juliete (Brigitte Bardot) lives with her foster parents and works at a local bookstore. It's baffling that although Juliete is eighteen, she is not yet considered an adult. So for whatever reason or law, she is not permitted to live independently, even though she is employed. She is beholden to the orphanage until she turns twenty-one.
She likes to go barefoot. She likes to go dancing. She likes sunning herself in the nude. All of which causes a great deal of consternation on the part of her custodians. She has a sugar daddy, Eric Carradine, played by Curd Jürgens. Although the actor is in his early forties here, his character comes across more like a man in his fifties. She lusts after the somewhat younger Antoine Tardieu (Christian Marquand), but he doesn't take her seriously. Antoine's shy younger brother, Michael (Jean-Louis Trintignant), has a major crush on her.
The first thing that struck me about this film was its musicality. From the scintillating, slow burn opening credits to the intensely sensual dance number, if you can stop ogling long enough to listen, it has a terrific jazz score. The other thing is its beauty. Juliete is pretty. The beaches and the ocean are pretty. The boats are pretty. The town is pretty. It's a beautiful little film. The restoration effort paid off.
Isabelle Corey has a small role as Juliete's best friend, Lucienne. I saw her not too long ago as Anne in Bob le Flambeur (1956). Her role here is quite similar but far less prominent. I have few negative things to say about it other than the aforementioned chauvinism. Two out of three guys are selfish horn dogs. There is also a kissing scene that goes on a little too long. It's adorable at first, then less so, then weird. Hint: It doesn't involve any of the men.

Vermillion Pleasure Night Vol. 1: Optic Erotica (2006):
I came across this Japanese variety show featuring sketch comedy, performance art, musical acts, animation, and claymation not long after its original release, so this is a revisit. It's irreverent, salacious, and downright bizarre.
Even though it's barely twenty years old, I doubt a show of its nature would be made today. It commits too many social and cultural offenses that present day audiences are forbidden from finding amusing.
Some bits have aged better than others. A few are too unnerving to be funny. Of the two episodes in this volume, the first one is by far the better. This volume delivers on its eye candy title. The cast appears to be comprised almost entirely of beautiful women showing off a parade of spectacular fashions.
My favorite sketches are Midnight Cooking (the one with the singers not the shaky hands one), One Point English Lesson, and Six Singing Girls. I didn't like the mannequin comedy then, and I don't like it now. Unfortunately, there is a lot of it. There is also a sketch called Cathy's House in which actors play mannequins or life size dolls.

The Devil is a Woman (1935):
"I should like some coffee before I die, and in your soothing company if possible."
One preposterous headdress after another crowns Marlene Dietrich in her final collaboration with director Josef von Sternberg. I would be done with these movies by now if I had watched them in order, but I have one more to go.
It's Carnival time in Spain, and all the stores had a big sale on party streamers, so much so that the actors have to wade through them. There is a movie somewhere under all that festive set design. The masks and costumes are quite good, and the parade scenes are delightfully chaotic.
The handsome and dashing Antonio Galvan (Cesar Romero) dares to flirt with the lovely and alluring Concha Perez (Marlene Dietrich) as she rides by on a parade float. After a quick exchange, they agree to a late-night rendezvous, but first, Antonio has drinks with his older, wiser friend and mentor, Capt. Don Pasqual Costelar (Lionel Atwill). The good Captain is all too familiar with Concha. His cautionary tale framed in flashback begins the story.
I've read that Dietrich considered this one of her finest performances. I can't say that I agree. It's certainly her most animated. Her exaggerated affectations have an almost unhinged quality. It's a jiggling, shimmying, eye-rolling, rump-shaking, foot-stomping good time. Some of it is just typical Dietrich, but the rest...
Most of her other films offer a brief explanation of how she came to be in any given exotic locale. This one does not. Presumably, she is playing a Spanish woman. It annoyed me because sauerbraten is not paella no matter how you serve it (or how impetuously she stamps her feet). I'm thankful that they didn't resort to brownface.
Romero and Atwill make it bearable. Both actors turn in stellar performances. Cesar Romero also provides a bit of eye candy both with and without the bat mask that he sports for Carnival.
Another highlight is character actress Tempe Pigott. She plays Concha's pimpish manager. She delivers the absolute best old hag cackle. She cackles more than she utters actual lines, and it's flawless every time.
I loved Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but Tempe Pigott now reigns as the cackle queen supreme in my estimation.
Compared to some of Dietrich's other films, this one is a little light on musical numbers. Originally there were two songs, but one of them was cut. If It Isn't Pain (It Isn't Love) is the one that was cut. It was included as an extra on the DVD. Better off without it in my opinion. The remaining song is Three Sweethearts Have I. It's a comedy song done up in a playful burlesque number for the film.
https://youtu.be/HoeAtGDseMc

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009):
I must have misread the synopsis. I thought this was going to be a straightforward documentary about an entomologist who specialized in beetles. The title led me to erroneously conclude that the entomologist was a woman.
The entomologist is not a woman. There is no entomologist. There is Dr. Takeshi Yoro, a physician and anatomist, whose hobby is insects. This documentary isn't about him. It alludes to an interview with him, but most of it was cut and dumped in the bonus features. He periodically spouts pseudoscientific spiritualism over scenes of Tokyo's skyline, busy streets, nightlife, and rushing trains. When he isn't talking, a woman narrator offers us tidbits of poetry, history, and lore with similar backdrops but also waterfalls and other scenes of nature.
The bulk of the footage shows bug hunters for profit, and a sampling of their customers. None of it offers any meaningful information about the subjects shown. The worst part of it for me was all the bug torture and murder. It juxtaposes the poetry and reverence for nature narrative with scenes of grade school kids being taught how to pin and mount specimens, profit-driven bug hunters kicking trees to make beetles fall into their ready nets and setting up massive floodlights and white sheets to trap flying insects at night.
It was infuriating to see so many endangered Luna Moths being lured to their deaths. They live for only one week as adults. They don't even eat during that last week of their lives. Their sole focus is mating before they die. Several are shown obviously distressed by the intense light and being damaged from mishandling by the bug hunters and their kids. I didn't learn about Luna Moths from this documentary. Those were things I already knew.
In another scene, one of the bug hunters shows off a Ferrari he bought with his fat stacks of beetle money. It doesn't say how much he makes. It shows a small child in a pet store. The child's father buys a beetle for the equivalent of fifty dollars, but there is nothing to say whether that price is high, low, or average.
It goes off on a tangent about crickets, and another about fireflies, but yet again, it fails to go deeper than aesthetics. I would characterize this as an amateur art film masquerading as a documentary. The only insect that I had hard time feeling sorry for was the Murder Hornet, yet I wouldn't have minded if it had nailed one of the tree-kickers.

The Cat from Outer Space (1978):
Other than the cat, the pretty glowing collar, the spaceship, and a host of actors bound to trigger nostalgia in those of a certain generation, this isn't worth the time. I think I saw it once when I was a child.
Apparently, I didn't think too much of it then either.
I rented it because Tim Holt wasn't in enough movies. Tim Holt is not in this movie. In fact, he died years before it was even made. I recently enjoyed Tim Holt in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), and I wanted to catch a glimpse of him later his career.
I decided upon the wacky sci-fi horror movie The Monster That Challenged the World (1957), but I couldn't rent it. While reading down its cast list, I spotted an actor who looked vaguely familiar. That actor was Hans Conried. In trying to figure out what I knew him from, I rented this very silly Disney movie. It wasn't until after I had subjected myself to it that I discovered I could watch a colorized version of The Monster That Challenged the World at the Internet Archive. Perhaps another time.

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.

Hawk the Slayer (1980):
"Two blood brothers with only blood between them."
They have nothing but blood between them, and it's all bad. This was our main feature on Halloween night. It was a grand choice. I wasn't sure what to expect when I put it in the rental queue. I'm of the opinion that Hawk the Slayer is the absolute pinnacle of low budget sword and sorcery movies. Even the DVD menu is cool with its graphics reminiscent of 1980s arcade games.
The eldest son of a king, Voltan (Jack Palance), bumps off his dad (Ferdy Mayne) after learning that his much younger brother, Hawk (John Terry), will be heir to the throne. Hawk arrives just in time to hear his father's last words. He is bestowed with a magical sword upon which he swears an oath of righteous vengeance. So begins the adventure, and the opening credits.
Voltan rampages across the land with his dark magic bolstered army of thugs, while Hawk assembles a small team of allies. It's pretty much a typical D&D adventure roster: A sorceress (Patricia Quinn), an elf (Ray Charleson), a giant (Bernard Bresslaw), and a dwarf (Peter O'Farrell). They come to the aid of Ranulf (William Morgan Sheppard), a middle-aged guy with a crossbow whose village has just been decimated by Voltan's forces. The group sets up base in an abbey after its abbess is abducted by Voltan in a ploy to lure out Hawk.
Some of the finer points that I really enjoyed:
--There is a mere three-year age difference between Jack Palance and Ferdy Mayne. Even if we ignore that, there is a thirty-one-year age difference between Jack Palance and John Terry. Brother from another mother? It's either that, or mom had Voltan when she was fifteen, and Hawk was a change of life baby.
--The soundtrack consists mainly of synth-metal. It has a strong music video vibe, especially during the horseback riding scenes. Over the river and through the woods, past boiling swamps, crumbling ruins, and random piles of spooky, mossy, cobwebbed skeletons they go. Think along the lines of Iron Maiden's Can I Play with Madness meets The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats.
--Skillfully painted backdrops are used for outdoor landscape shots of the castles, towns, and the abbey.
--The special effect for the teleportation spell is basically a pair of glowing hula hoops.
--Hawk's sword gets its magic from an elven mind stone affixed to the hilt. The stone glows green, has the ability to levitate, and bears a striking resemblance to the Loknar from Heavy Metal (1981).
--There is a scene in which Voltan roughs up an innkeeper played by Roy Kinnear, who many remember for his role as Veruca Salt's dad in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), but my first thought when he appeared on screen was, "Hey! It's that guy from the Mike and the Mechanics videos."
It's clear at the end that they intended at least a sequel if not a series. It's a shame no more were made.

An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe (1970):
This made for television special starring Vincent Price is a Halloween tradition in our house. Vincent Price embodies four of Poe's short stories: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Pit and The Pendulum. It looks its age and could use remastering, but it doesn't detract from the overall experience. There are some small changes to Price's appearance and the set design from story to story, but the gist of it is auditory. The DVD we own is a double feature with The Tomb of Ligeia (1964).

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022):
What a wonderful, pro-woman, action-comedy! With so many superhero movies and shows out there, it's hard to stand out in the crowd, yet She-Hulk succeeds. I was pleasantly surprised by it.
The premise of accidentally becoming super and wanting nothing to do with the hero part is great. Jennifer Walters wants little more than a flourishing career as an attorney, and an attractive guy who respects her and shares her zeal. Those goals become considerably harder to achieve when she turns into a green-skinned giant capable of knocking bad guys or ladies through brick walls and tossing cars around like toys.
I like that it incorporates other Marvel heroes as special guests. The episodes with Daredevil are smoking hot. Every episode breaks the fourth wall at least once, because why not smash all the walls. It's contemporary in regard to technology, social media reliance, and pop culture. It's exuberant, vivacious, and a lot of fun. I hope there will be another season.

Warm Bodies (2013):
Ah! to be young and in love in a dystopian, zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic, survivalist hellscape. If this isn't the sweetest and most adorable zombie movie ever, I don't know what is. I rented it on a recommendation from someone who described it as cute, funny, primarily geared toward teenagers, yet worthwhile for adults due to its social commentary. Yes, all of those things, and also John Malkovich.
I like the narrative. I like the inventive take on star-crossed lovers. As is typical of romantic movies, each half of the loving couple has a best friend sidekick in whom they can confide and rely upon for help no matter what. Casting put together two great teams of actors with Nicholas Hoult and Rob Corddry, and Teresa Palmer and Lio Tipton. They play off each other well both as pairs and as a group.
The make-up artistry is truly outstanding. On the DVD, every behind-the-scenes segment is worth watching. This production was extremely fortunate to have both an abandoned airport and an Olympic sports stadium at its disposal. Warm Bodies is based upon the Isaac Marion novel of the same name. I'm not certain it will become a Halloween essential for us, but I'm sure I'll watch it again someday.

Cat People (1942):
I saw the 1982 remake long before the original back when I was too young years old. To my recollection, the family had gathered around for movie night, and my grandparents decided we would watch Cat People on HBO. I guess they thought it would be faithful to the original, and not be all sexed-up and bloody. It was a memorable experience to say the least.
Now, almost four decades later, I have finally seen the original.
I did a perfunctory search concerning the legends and superstitions that play a major part in the story. Either search engines aren't fond of Serbian history, or it didn't happen as presented in the film.
It seems there was a King John, more often referred to as Blessed John, who either was the first king of Serbia or the first one after the Ottomans were driven out. According to the legend in the movie, King John defeats the Mamelukes, which are described as devil-worshipping witches who can transform into leopards. In real history, Mamelukes or Mamluks were slaves conscripted into military service. They were predominantly but not necessarily Turkish in origin. As far as pronunciation of that term is concerned, I had to turn on the subtitles, because it sounded like Irena (Simone Simon) was saying, "Marmadukes".
Irena Dubrovna hails from a small village in Serbia, but she made her way to New York City, where she works as a fashion illustrator. Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) is a successful naval architect. They meet by chance at the Central Park Zoo, when Oliver affably chides Irena for littering in front of a no littering sign while she draws in her sketchbook.
Irena invites him over to her place for tea, where she tells him some really messed up stories about the history of her village and her own family. They spend the afternoon in her apartment. Come evening, she sees him off without so much as a hug or a peck on the cheek. Oliver, possibly thinking that he has hit the shy, virginal, woman-child jackpot, asks her out for a dinner date.
They rush into marriage. After the nuptials, Irena continues to eschew all forms of physical intimacy. It dawns on Oliver that he has made a poor choice. Jane Randolph plays Alice Moore, Oliver's co-worker and good friend to whom he turns for comfort and advice. It's a poorly kept secret that Alice would like to be more than friends. Two of the best-known scenes in this movie involve Alice being stalked by a jealous Irena.
Of the central cast members, Simone Simon is the only one who I recognized from other things. This is the only time I've seen her in a lead role. The actors that I'm the most familiar with here play only bit parts, a few of them uncredited. Alan Napier enjoys some brief screen time and a few lines as Doc Carver. Elizabeth Russell appears in one scene, but her lines are dubbed with Simone Simon's voice. I know her from The Corpse Vanishes with Bela Lugosi, which was released the same year as Cat People. Theresa Harris plays a waitress here, but I know her from small roles in Horse Feathers (1932), Morocco (1930), and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933).
The actor I have seen the most is also the most unassuming. I have watched him in multiple films without even knowing it. He is Alec Craig, and he plays the zookeeper in charge of the big cats. He had a long career of illustrious roles such as: store watchman, drunken printer, townsman, idler, townsman at church, telephone repair man, Scottish farmer without mustache, and one of the few for which he is almost famous, McCoy from Mutiny on the Bounty (1935).
Light and shadow are used to great effect. The best examples are the pool scene with Alice and Irena, and the scene with Oliver and Alice working late at the office. In the office scene, illuminated drafting tables are the primary source of light. The rest of the room is dark save for an area of wall marked with measurements like an enormous ruler on which they scale ship designs. Anyone or anything could be lurking in those shadows, watching, waiting, ready to pounce. I got a kick out of Oliver wielding a T-square like a crucifix.
In terms of special effects, there is a dream sequence featuring a short bit of animation showing numerous black cats, and a bit of enhanced eye-gleam on Irena in another scene. There are no showy transformations, person to cat or vice versa.
The DVD I rented came with a commentary track featuring a film historian giving all the dish on RKO studios, producer Val Lewton, and the making of Cat People. The commentary also contained audio excerpts of actress Simone Simon from old interviews. I appreciate the subtlety of the original. For all that it borrowed, the remake is truly its own beast.

Chosen Survivors (1974):
I chose this because I'm a fan of the Fallout video game series, and the synopsis made it sound like a crawl out through the fallout good time.
The movie opens with a helicopter dropping off the chosen survivors of a global thermonuclear war at the entrance of a fallout shelter. They stumble disoriented and obviously drugged down a gauntlet of armed soldiers who shove them through the vault door. A rough elevator ride tosses the barely conscious occupants like rag dolls as it takes them over a mile underground. No sooner do they comprehend their situation than it begins to go sideways. The shock and horror of the ordeal leaves everyone with frayed nerves and short tempers. They have almost no time to process and adjust before critical equipment breaks down, and other odd things occur. They begin to suspect they are not alone.
My expectations were a deep underground vault with many "Lite-Brite" wall-inset control panels with multi-colored illuminated buttons, and arcane dials, levers, and switches controlling high-tech machinery. It absolutely delivers that and with a comic flare straight out of a Vault-Tec overseer's manual. It does indeed have an abundance of "Lite-Brite" control panels, but the buttons are all white and none are labeled, and several of the panels are in strange, hard to reach locations. The dials, levers, and switches are as arcane as they come; none of them are labeled either. There is a lot of stainless steel and clear acrylic in this very 1970s conception of a high-tech survival bunker. Every bedroom has its own wall-inset aquarium filled with tropical fish. I spent a significant amount of time thinking about how they were supposed to feed the fish and clean the tanks with them built into the wall. In the communal kitchen, there is a large cage of birds built into the wall in a similar fashion.
As for the chosen survivors, I'm not sure what I expected other than I thought they would be younger. The only cast member under thirty is Cristina Moreno, who plays nutritionist Kristin Lerner. I would think it difficult to start the human race anew when half of the women are nearing menopause. The men are just as old and older. Jackie Cooper, who has top billing here, was fifty-two years old when this was made.
They were supposedly selected at random by a computer, yet two of them know each other, seemingly quite well. Senator Alana Fitzgerald (Diana Muldaur) and journalist Steven Hayes (Alex Cord) get so cozy so fast that they share a bedroom after the first night. None of the other vault dwellers question it. The survivors hail from diverse backgrounds. There is a biologist, an oceanographer, an Olympian, an economist, a typical housewife, a typical angry conservative, a doctor, and a soldier.
Several large wall-mounted television screens deliver daily updates, instructional, and inspirational pre-recorded messages from the government. These announcements and pep talks are given by a perky blonde spokeswoman standing in the Oval Office. The televisions can also be used to view the apocalyptic devastation above ground both locally and all around the world via satellite. The above ground devastation scenes consist primarily of stock footage of volcanic eruptions.
What I didn't expect of this movie was for it to be a poster for inhumane treatment of animals on movie sets. The bats look perfectly realistic, because they are real, and also really adorable. So many adorable little brown bats were killed during this production that two of the actors, Barabara Babcock and Jackie Cooper, lobbied the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to apply the American standard for humane treatment to movies made abroad. Although Chosen Survivors is an American production, it was shot in Mexico. I didn't learn about the animal cruelty until after I had watched it. I can't help but wonder about the treatment of the fish and birds as well. Despite a few good performances, especially Barbara Babcock, without the Fallout fandom "Ha! Ha! Just like Vault-Tec!" comparisons, it's a sadly predictable disaster-horror that many defenseless animals died to make.

Ganja and Hess (1973):
This movie makes sense in the same universe in which Last Year at Marienbad makes sense. It's a universe most of us would prefer to avoid, because every time we go there, we end up sorry we came. It's so incoherent at times that the dialogue is more like a free form poetry recitation. Just as I was getting into its avant-garde poetic groove, along comes Marlene Clark as Ganja, and it tries to be a real movie. It should have stuck with the poetry. I don't know if it's a romantic horror or a horrific romance.
It's a non-traditional vampire tale in which an archaeologist's wife returns home to discover some dude has moved into her house and replaced her husband. He claims to be her husband's field assistant and tells her that her spouse disappeared while away on business. She isn't exactly cool with it, but she is awfully mellow about it. There are no fangs, no capes, no sleeping in coffins. The source of the vampirism is a dirty old dagger from an archaeological dig.
Duane Jones of Night of the Living Dead (1968) fame stars as the vampiric Dr. Hess Green. I didn't pay attention to names or recognize him when I watched it. In looking it up afterward, my disappointment in the poor acting doubled.
Marlene Clark is good here. The conclusion could be described as a feminist one. It's quite a scene with or without the full-frontal male nudity.
The one and only Mabel King has a bit part as a tribal chieftain in a few flashback scenes. Bill Gunn wrote and directed Ganja and Hess, and he also appears in it as Ganja's husband. It's notable for having a black writer and director, and a black cast.
I had known about this cult classic movie for decades. When I first took an interest in obscure and bizarre films, I didn't have the luxury of the internet. I had word of mouth of family and friends, and mail order catalogs sourced from the back pages of counterculture magazines. Sinister Cinema is one of the few still around today. Back then, I was selecting movies based on nothing more than a thumbnail graphic, title, and synopsis. I became familiar with directors such as Jess Franco, and Mario Bava.
Ganja and Hess appeared in many of those catalogs. One in particular sold a mix of offbeat cult classic horror movies and horror porn. I think its name was Starlight. It was the mail order movie equivalent of a guy in a trench coat in a dark alley selling knock-off Rolex watches. I made note of Ganja and Hess, but never got around to buying it. I finally rented it from [subscription movie rental service]. I'm glad to have seen it. I'm also glad that I didn't purchase a bootleg VHS of it for $19.95 back in 1999.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022):
I seldom get everything I want from a movie. This is close to perfection. It's a heady blend of sci-fi, fantasy, fighting action, absurdist comedy, and family drama. The previews did not adequately prepare me for the actual experience. I'm glad. I liked not knowing exactly what I was getting into. Its unpredictability is refreshing.
Some of the actors are long time favorites of mine. Some of them are new to me but likely to become favorites, especially Stephanie Hsu. The most surprising was Ke Huy Quan. I did not realize who he was until after the movie. The whole time I was watching it, I was trying to figure out where I'd seen him before. I was a bit shocked when I looked it up afterward.
Without giving away too much, and frankly, much of it is difficult to explain, basically, the stresses of running a small business slated for a tax audit, elder care, a marriage on the verge of crumbling, and conflict with an estranged daughter shatters Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) and sends her careening through countless parallel existences in a vast multiverse.
I won't describe them all, but the most gorgeous among them is a tribute to Wong Kar-wai. Evelyn is so happy and prosperous in that one that it almost sucks her in for keeps. I'd like to see both Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan in an actual Wong Kar-wai movie. They just looked so natural in that environment.
Here is a new movie that I instantly loved, which contains a stunning tribute to a director whose movies I also love. It defied and exceeded all my expectations. Speaking of expectations, I doubt anyone expects a martial arts fighting sequence to involve big, floppy, dildos, but they should. It's one of my favorite scenes. As far as the little bit of controversy pertaining to the naming and treatment of a certain supporting character, I think it was overblown. The intention was clear to me.
James Hong is wonderful in the part of Gong Gong. Jamie Lee Curtis is like I've never seen her before as Deirdre Beaubeirdre. Fans of Mr. Robot should be on the lookout for Sunita Mani who appears as the leading lady in a Bollywood musical playing on televisions in the background of several scenes.

From Up On Poppy Hill (Kokuriko-zaka kara - 2011):
This is almost too cute. It's entirely sweet and wholesome, but I liked it anyway. It's hard to go wrong with Studio Ghibli.
Umi is a high school senior, who gets up extra early every morning and rushes home from school every afternoon to help her grandmother run a boarding house. She is also charged with the care of her younger siblings. Her father was lost at sea during the war, and her mother is frequently away on business. Between work and school, she has almost no social life until she crosses paths with handsome and charismatic classmate, Shun (voiced by Anton Yelchin in the English version).
Shun enlists Umi's help in an effort to save an old building on school grounds from demolition. The building in question is a massive dilapidated wooden structure with a bell tower. It was probably new when their grandparents went to school. Its interior is a monument to every possible building code violation thanks to many unauthorized additions and modifications made by the students. It houses various student clubs and the school newspaper. For some reason, it's used solely by boys. There is no explanation as to why. There is no indication that the girls have separate but equal clubs or their own newspaper in another building. When Umi shows up to help, the boys are astonished to see a girl in the building. They erroneously conclude that she must be a groupie. That one weird sexist interlude aside, it's a charming love story.
The song Ue o Muite Arukō AKA: Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto gets a lot of play. I can't think of any other soundtrack in which it was used, but I'm confident no one has ever used it more effectively. That song has a dual meaning, which can be read about here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukiyaki_(song), and both of its meanings apply to the story.
The main reason school administrators want to tear down the building isn't so much about code violations and structural deficiencies as it is their desire to sweep away any reminders of old Japan before its defeat, and before the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty took effect. The fact that the country is about to host the 1964 Olympics makes this desire all the more urgent. To people who don't know or can't understand the lyrics, it simply sounds like an upbeat pop tune, but it's more than that.
I look up as I walk so the tears won't fall.

The Sandman (2022):
I'm not sure what to say other than I highly recommend it, even if you haven't read it. I haven't read it, but my spouse has. Back in the day when it was new, he told me the gist of the story and showed me several pages, but I was more focused on the art than the story.
Based upon my vague recollection, The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) stepped right from those pages and onto the screen as affable and treacherous as ever. It's one of several superb casting decisions. I didn't like Rose Walker of the comic book, so that change was welcome. Another welcome change was Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), but my reason is petty. I resented the drooling fanboys holding up (literally) the comic book version as something I needed to aspire to in terms of appearance, the quintessential goth girl. Anyway, I bawled like a baby for a good chunk of that episode. My spouse even warned me ahead of time, and I still ended up full on trembling with chest heaving, ugly crying. I also cried over Fiddler's Green. I have mixed feelings about Lucifer Morningstar, which I guess leaves me neutral about the casting choice. I know the original vision was for David Bowie to play that part, but since he is busy being dead, obviously they had to go with someone else. Personally, I'd prefer a brunette. Mazikeen is Mazikeen though, seemingly no matter who plays the part or in what. In this case, it's Cassie Clare. Patton Oswalt lends his voice and levity to the part of Matthew the Raven.
I hope there will be more to come of this amazing series.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: Season 01: Disc 02 (2012):
The person who recommended this was right. You need to give it a chance to get started. Things really start to cook with the second disc. It's still more Thin Man than Sherlock Holmes, but I take back what I had said about it being too girly.

The Comfort of Strangers (1990):
A couple on the road to Splitsville returns to Venice, Italy to try to rekindle the magic of their first visit. They aren't married, but they're toying with notion. One of their problems seems to be that they have toyed with the notion too long. There is somewhat of an age difference between them. He (Rupert Everett) is just young enough to give off a boy-toy snatched by a cougar on the rebound vibe. He is a pretty but pouty emo. He doesn't like her kids but lacks the guts to say as much. She (Natasha Richardson) is too worried about her how her kids are doing back home to relax and be fully in the moment.
As they saunter from tourist attraction to tourist attraction, she tries to mask her insecurity, while he tries to hide his resentment and boredom. They both fail to notice that they're being shadowed. The man following them is one half of a wealthy and horny middle-aged couple, played unnervingly by Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren.
When this man finally approaches them, he shares a disturbing account of his abusive childhood, which begins:
"Let me tell you something: My father was a very big man. And all his life he wore a black mustache. When it was no longer black, he used a small brush, such as ladies use for their eyes. Mascara..."
They are more repulsed than intrigued, but out of idle curiosity and a sense of propriety, they accept his invitation. Christopher Walken and Helen Mirren are well-paired here, and they both give memorable performances. As for the rest of it, I liked that it showed so many different, less touristy shots of Venice. It gave it a more fleshed out atmosphere. Before watching it, I wondered why I hadn't heard of it despite being a fan of both Walken and Mirren. I wonder no more.

The Lizard (Bi hu - 1972):
This is another fine Shaw Brothers' production. The plot is more or less Robin Hood without the archery. A thief steals from rich foreign dignitaries and gives to the local poor. He leaves behind a small, red, plastic lizard as his calling card, hence the moniker, The Lizard.
His everyday disguise is a rube junior cop with a stutter. His love interest is secretly a kung fu badass, and The Lizard's biggest fangirl, but everyone knows her as the sweet and dutiful granddaughter of a local cop. Unfortunately, grandpa's job is to bust The Lizard. Also, grandpa's boss is corrupt af. Worse still, grandpa's corrupt af boss wants to marry his granddaughter.
The most notable performances here come from the corrupt police chief, played by Lieh Lo, and Lydia Shum, who plays a local official's wife. Before watching this movie, I didn't know Lydia Shum by name. I only knew her as a distinctive looking, funny actress who overreacts and makes funny faces. I've seen Lieh Lo in several movies, the first of which was Five Fingers of Death (1972). I have it on VHS.
One other thing about this movie, and it might be only me, but I could have sworn that I heard snippets of Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd in the soundtrack. I thought I'd heard the intro to Alice Cooper's song Killer during the lavish party scene. I also thought I'd heard Pink Floyd, but the song that came to mind wasn't released until a few years after this movie was made.
It's a bit ableist in how they handle the stutter, but overall, it's not so bad. I didn't feel robbed of my time. I watched it twice for the casino scene, and the lavish party scene. Those two scenes are quite good. I did fast forward through a few of the fights the second time around. The brief nudity at the beginning of the movie was a pleasant surprise.

Duel in the Sun (1946):
How many racial slurs referencing Native Americans can one movie have? Duel in the Sun doesn't have them all, but it's not for a lack of trying. Not only is it fraught with racism but also sexual harassment and assault, and animal cruelty. It was derisively nicknamed Lust in the Dust, and some of the sexual scenes had to be cut to get it past the censors of its day. I recommend the Western comedy Lust in the Dust (1985) with Tab Hunter and Divine over this.
For those brave or curious enough to press on we have...
The Prelude!
The prelude is followed by...
The Overture!
Thirteen minutes after pressing play, the actual movie begins with an overview of a rugged landscape under a blood red sky. Enter Pearl Chavez (Jennifer Jones), the daughter of a Creole Southern gentleman and a Native American woman. Not quite sure what her dad does for a living, but he enjoys gambling his money away. Her mother enjoys dancing provocatively on the bar while her husband gambles, then goes home with someone else. Neither Jennifer Jones nor Tilly Losch, who plays her mother, are Native American, so of course there is brownface.
Circumstances arise that prompt Pearl's father to send her to live with the cousin he almost married, Laura Belle McCanles, played by Lillian Gish. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for her husband, the extremely racist Senator Jackson McCanles (Lionel Barrymore), and the younger of their two sons, Lewton (Gregory Peck). If you have ever wanted to see Gregory Peck play a racist and violent, predatory asshole, this is your chance.
Their older son, Jesse (Joseph Cotton), takes an instant liking to Pearl, but he conducts himself like a gentleman. He is polite, educated, and earns a good living as an attorney. His father prefers his scoundrel younger brother over him, which makes him kind of a mama's boy.
I want to say that both men vie for Pearl's affection. They do and they don't. Neither man could marry her without getting disowned by their father. That wouldn't bother Jesse, but inheriting the ranch is the only prospect Lewton has. It stops Lewton from marrying her. It doesn't stop him from raping her. I'm not giving away as much as it might seem.
Jesse and the Senator have an inevitable falling out unrelated to Pearl. Jesse packs his bags and splits for the nearest city. Joseph Cotton delivers one of the most satisfying slaps I've ever seen or heard in a movie. I played it back over and over again. The recipient certainly had it coming. It's one of the few moments I truly enjoyed. It's just an absolutely gorgeous slap. I wish I could put that slap in a box, gift wrap it, and send it to someone who deserves it.
A few supporting role highlights:
Butterfly McQueen as Vashti
Walter Huston as Jubal Crabby the Sinkiller
Charles Bickford as Sam Pierce
Harry Carey as Lem Smoot
It has beautiful scenery both real and painted. It has pretty horses, when they're not being abused. It has an over-the-top finale that embodies its nickname. It fades to black for almost three minutes complete with a reprise of the music from the prelude and overture.
(Seriously though, watch the other Lust in the Dust.)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021):
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and Michelle Yeoh and Benedict Wong...Oh my!
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and Michelle Yeoh and Benedict Wong...Oh my!
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung and Michelle Yeoh and Benedict Wong...Oh my!
Three of my favorite actors in one movie...Oh my!
Simu Liu, Awkwafina, and Meng'er Zhang are great too.
It's new, so I don't want to spoil it. It's funny. It's wholesome. The action and effects are dazzling. The dragon armor is sexy. It's terrific!

The Red Turtle (La tortue rouge - 2016):
Visual storytelling done in the international language of no dialogue whatsoever. I didn't mind that. I found it engrossing and peaceful if not a bit sad.
It begins with a man struggling to tread water in a stormy sea. We don't know who he is or how he got there. He gets washed ashore on a deserted island. Adorable little crabs seem to be the main inhabitants.
The man soon sets about constructing a raft. As he departs the island, something strikes his raft from below and destroys it. He tries again, and again, and again until he is exhausted. When he encounters the creature that destroyed his rafts, he is forever changed.
I like the way the crabs punctuate the action. They are always scuttling nearby, observing, and sometimes participating.

The Pornographers (Erogotoshi-tachi yori: Jinruigaku nyûmon - 1966):
Content warning: This movie depicts incest both implied and explicit.
Shōhei Imamura's Pigs and Battleships appeared on the last list. This is the first movie I saw from that director. This was my second viewing of it. The first time around, I rated it higher than Pigs and Battleships. I've since changed my mind. I think I rated it higher solely because I was so impressed by its novelty compared to other movies I had seen up to that point.
It's sordid. The subject matter is pretty twisted and depressing, but it's brilliantly shot. Imamura uses windows, and even an aquarium to frame many of the scenes, which gives a sense of being removed from the characters. We're pruriently gazing at them from the outside.
Haru(Sumiko Sakamoto) is a hairdresser and mother of two teenagers who rents out a room of the family home after her husband dies. She gets romantically involved with one of her tenants in spite of having sworn to her husband on his death bed that she would never be with another man. Her son is spoiled, overly needy, clingy, and manipulative. Their relationship is inappropriately touchy-feely. Her daughter is more aloof, lacking in academic ambition, and in danger of becoming a juvenile delinquent. As far as Haru knows, her tenant turned fiancé is a medical products salesman. In truth, he is a pornographer. Rounding out this unconventional, dysfunctional family is a fish. That's right. A fish. Not just any fish, a carp that Haru believes is the reincarnation of her late husband.
Ogata(Subu)(Shôichi Ozawa) is one of the titular pornographers. He and his work, and his struggle to keep it secret from his family are the focus of the story. He, the director, and another man are basically the entire crew, production staff, and marketing team. They make a few low budget skin flicks per day. They encounter numerous problems and setbacks. There are difficulties with the actors, problems finding filming locations, technical difficulties, cheapskate clients, plus the risk of being arrested. They spend money as fast or faster than they can make it, especially Ogata(Subu). Every time he turns around, there is a coworker, business contact, or family member asking him for money.
Back at home with Haru, they decide to get married, and they want to have a baby. Her son and daughter are less than thrilled by the news. The carp doesn't like it either. Their disapproval puts a lot of strain on Haru. She sinks into depression, and her doctor diagnoses her with a weak heart. Friction between family members brings about a shocking revelation, and the situation takes a turn for the worse.
Technical note: More of a technical prop note...
I was fascinated and perplexed by the cameras used in the porn shoot scenes. I did some searching, and they appear to be Nikkorex-8 cameras. The perplexing part is that they are using four of them held together in a bundle. It looks really cool, but I'm not an AV person, so I'm at a loss as to why.

Bat Without Wings (Wu yi bian fu - 1980):
A noble lady stops for a cup of tea with her security detail and her maid. She is led astray into danger after someone hands her a written invitation ostensibly from a renowned heroic fighter. She leaves her people at the tea house and goes to meet with him at a nearby temple. She realizes too late that it's a trap set by an imposter. She is an accomplished fighter in her own right, but in the end, she is no match for the notorious Bat Without Wings. Her maid returns home to report the terrible turn of events to her father, and her fiancé. They then set out to search for her. Meanwhile, her ghost drops by to deliver her severed head. That sets the stage for the story.
Her family seeks help from the very same heroic fighter whose name was used to lure her to her demise. His name is Xiao Qi, but he is often referred to by the description White Gown and Jewelry Sword. As they prepare to set out, a renowned badass fighter lady approaches him and asks him to help her find her even more famous and badass father. Her dad earned his fame by being one of the twenty-eight heroic fighters who killed Bat Without Wings five years earlier. Out of twenty-eight fighters, only he and another man they call "The Scholar" survived. They all agree to work together, but before they depart, a pair of assassins show up. They have a fancy title for themselves, but I'll just call them The Poison Brothers.
FYI: This is one convoluted as hell Shaw Brothers production.
Who is Bat Without Wings?
Bat Without Wings is a serial rapist, murderer, thief, and all around bloodthirsty bad guy who paints his face and styles his hair like Gene Simmons of Kiss.
Is he dead, alive, or undead?
Not exactly, yes, and not exactly.
To find out the truth the heroes must find their way inside an improvised prison loaded with deadly traps and surrounded by a moving and occasionally exploding bamboo forest.
Making things even more convoluted, there may or may not be martial arts manuscripts containing all of Bat Without Wings' fighting secrets. There may or may not be a vast treasure trove hidden in his secret lair.
Something that's definitely in his lair is a collection of grotesque statues of his victims. They are quite badly done and really bizarre looking. There are some deer statues outside the lair that are even worse like creepy villain lawn ornaments.
The lair is built into a cave, so he is a bat without wings who wears a cape in a bat cave, and he has bat blades. More accurately, he had bat blades. They were taken from him and hidden five years earlier right after he got his bat ass kicked. He wants his bat blades. The heroes want justice, the bad blades, the martial arts manuscripts, and maybe treasure. The Poison Brothers want all of those things except for justice.
It's convoluted and cheesy, but it's fun.

From here down, it's a fight for last place.

N*tflix's Cowboy Bebop (2021):
I'm glad I waited until the cancellation announcement was made, but I'm not glad it was cancelled. I wanted a second season. I wanted them to have a chance to do better. It's not terrible. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it.
The good:
--John Cho as Spike Spiegel
--Mustafa Shakir as Jet Black
--Daniella Pineda as Faye Valentine
--Mason Alexander Park as Gren
--Ein
--the vehicles
--the music
The bad:
--Alex Hassell as Vicious
--Elena Satine as Julia
Making the story so heavily dependent on those two was a poor choice.
The ugly:
--Radical Edward, not the actor but the portrayal. It needs to be reined in to put it mildly. My husband described it as "Pee Wee Herman on crack". I agree, but Pee Wee Herman on crack meets steampunk young Carrot Top also on crack.
--that sacrilege the writers committed in front of the rose window

As a live action true to the original, it's a disaster. As a live action fan fiction based on the original, it's not bad. It had a lot more gore than I expected. At times, I felt more like I was watching Gotham than Cowboy Bebop.
There were some crucial elements it lacked from the anime. Detachment, in general but in particular with Spike, especially his fall from the rose window. That event unfolds very differently in the anime. It's Spike's calm detachment that gives that scene its power and magnificence. That final "Fuck you!" grenade he drops is also an important part of it. The other element is subtlety. The way Ed is portrayed is the most glaring example of what I mean. There is no subtlety with Vicious either, but my complaints about him go well beyond that.
In short, they kept the jazz, but lost the zen.
It sits at the top of the fight for last place on this list. I'd like them to do more and do better, but it's not my decision to make. I recommend it, especially to the social media trolls claiming that Edward isn't in it at all. Yes, it's only one little scene right at the very end. Presumably, there would have been many more scenes with Ed in season two. I guess we will never know.
Whatever happens, happens.

Gradiva (C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle - 2006):
If you try to look this up simply as Gradiva, you'll get a movie from 1970 with the same title. Both are based on the novel written by Wilhelm Jensen. The full title of this one in English is It's Gradiva Who Is Calling You. It's directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet who wrote the scenario and dialogue for Last Year at Marienbad (1961).
There is no Gradiva only Leila. Leila is played by Arielle Dombasle. She has this French Michelle Pfeiffer thing going on, but just her looks not her acting skills. She sashays and prances around in a gauzy white gown all through the streets of a Moroccan town. To drive the point home, I suggest looking up "Prancercise".
James Wilby plays John Locke, an art professor specializing in the Orientalism movement who is researching Eugéne Delacroix. He is in Morocco to acquire some sketchbooks purported to be Delacroix's. He pursues Leila after she prances by him in the marketplace one day. He gets waylaid by a fraudulent blind man who introduces him to an art dealing doctor who is also the proprietor of an exclusive S&M club.
Dany Verissimo plays Belkis, John Locke's servant who tries to keep him grounded in reality. She fears it's a dark path he is going down.
One good thing about it is that the more it takes itself seriously the funnier it gets. This is especially true of every scene with Leila/Gradiva in it. Unfortunately, it perpetuates a number of stereotypes. It's not S&M as in consensual and safe like what consenting adults might choose to do. It leans heavily into non-consensual torture porn territory. There is that, plus ableism and racism. The ableist stereotype of the fake blind person up to no good gets around in movies and television shows. The further back in time you go, the greater the frequency with which it occurs. So much so, that it's not even the only movie in this list with a character like that.
This list inadvertently has two elements that repeat:
--Sighted people pretending to be blind for nefarious reasons (Bat Without Wings, Gradiva)
--Ambulatory bamboo forests (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Bat Without Wings)

The Night and the Moment (1994):
This one depends on how much you like one or both of the lead actors, Willem Dafoe and Lena Olin. Miranda Richardson also plays a part, but it's relatively minor. It's a talkie, and I don't mean one of the earliest motion pictures to have sound. I mean it's two people having a conversation in a bedroom for pretty much the entire movie.
It's a period piece set in a lavish mansion belonging to a Marquis. Not that Marquis! There is a brief opening scene of after dinner parlor entertainment, which is followed by the guests retiring to their rooms for the night. No sooner do they retire then they all sneak back out to go bedroom hopping.
It's not as exciting as it sounds. If it were, this movie wouldn't be next to last on the list. It tries to be romantic and titillating, and it might be for certain people. It didn't work for me. Two people teasing and slut shaming each other for an hour and a half isn't my idea of a good time. The back and forth gets tedious, and it's easy to guess how it will end.

Diamonds of Kilimandjaro (El tesoro de la diosa blanca - 1983):
It's mighty terrible and mighty white. It's so terrible they misspelled the name of the mountain in the title. It's so terrible that director Jess Franco took his name off of it. Several scenes were cut in an effort to placate the French censors. New replacement footage was shot with another director. It's a mess of bad dubbing and bad stock footage of monkeys and other exotic wildlife. The stock footage is noticeably lower in quality. Still, I'm sure Franco's untouched original would have been just as terrible...and white.
For what I mean by "mighty white", consider its Spanish title El tesoro de la diosa blanca. That's The treasure of the white goddess in English. It's probably euphemistic to describe it as racially insensitive. It's one of those white people get stranded (in this case by a plane crash) in a place where the natives haven't seen white people before stories.
The natives mistake them for divine beings, and soon they are in charge of everything and everyone. The white "goddess" is a homely, gangly, and nearly naked seventeen-year-old, Diana played by Katja Bienert. Diana has a rich but terminally ill mother back where she came from, and she stands to inherit a great deal of wealth if she can be found and returned.
It's not long before a search expedition of mercenaries and opportunistic relatives brings trouble to paradise. Matters are both helped and complicated by Noba(Aline Mess). She is the high priestess of a local tribe, and she isn't having any of that white gods from the sky bullshit.

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.