skot's flicker pix

this is just for my own benefit. self-indulgent i know so sue me. i dare you! i just don't like going on movie threads and people get annoyed when i post about movies on the streaming thread. but this way i can keep track of stuff. i did the ltrbxd thing during the pandemic but it got boring and i fell asleep so i stopped. this is easier than remembering my blogger password. so now nobody can say hey take it to that dedicated jesse eisenberg thread and stop talking about it here on the What's so GREAT about wood-fired pizza? thread!
my claim to fame? Glenn Kenny unfriended me on Facebook after he read a post I wrote about Steven Spielberg and Schindler's List.

anyway, everyone from 12 to 1200 should see Sasquatch Sunset. i might even watch it again. it's on Paramount + right now. it's got everything you need in a movie! So good!

you might want to watch [Invisible Demons] a documentary about pollution in Delhi, but on the other hand, you might not. It has elements of climate porn in it. In that "wow, look how stunning that image of garbage mountain is." way. and i have mixed feelings about that. mostly its just so sad and when you watch you can't feel like there is any solution to the problems of overcrowded industrial cities like Delhi. they are just so damn big and they make so much stuff and they require so much fuel and there is just not enough room for everything and the temperature just keeps going up, up, up. it's a nightmare. it's on Mubi right now.

i don't think anyone needs to see the third installment of Shhhh...Don't Talk Even A Little. it's not scary and it just gets tedious watching people try not to make noise. the only reason to watch it at all is to just wonder at the insane beauty of Lupita, Queen of the World. she is just, like, wow. i can't even... even the cat is a dud in this movie and i like cats. it's no War of the Worlds by expert filmmaker Steven Spielberg! I've seen that movie at least five times! I love it! EVEN with Tom Cruise in it! the dumb anonymous guy who is so anonymous and forgettable that he's almost not even there in the Shhhhh! movie is maybe James Mcavoy but don't quote me on that all those guys look alike to me. the only nice thing he does is find Lupita some Fentanyl. i stopped watching with half an hour to go. its really boring.

i'll post here if i see something bad or good. and that way the cineastes on film threads won't get annoyed at me and the streaming thread people won't either. win/win!

oh yeah that 2024 John Woo The Killer is really bad. i only made it an hour in. the woman in it is very pretty. her mob "handler" or whatever might almost have been James Mcavoy but even less memorable than the guy in the Shhhh! movie. if you want to see a good recent-ish movie with Chow Yun-fat in it that wasn't directed by John Woo and that was directed by a woman who was an actress in the Modern Drama Troupe of the General Political Division of the People's Liberation Army then watch Confucius. It's great! If you want to watch great latter-day John Woo movies just watch Red Cliff and Red Cliff II over and over again. They deserve to be watched at least three times. They are the best things!

that's it for now film fans!

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there's been some speculation that considering what poor health Woo was said to be in after his last film came out his involvement in this remake may have been more of a "sign my name on it and let the ADs take care of it" thing - though that may also be cope from ppl not wanting to accept how far the mighty have fallen

I watched Marguerite's Theorem on Ovid today. It's a movie about a young French woman who rekindles her love for prime numbers through mahjong and orgasms. Also, there are daddy issues. It's very heartwarming. Directed by Anna Novion.

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I watched Rebel Ridge on Netflix because of the connection to Blue Ruin and Green Room, two stalwart movies of the streaming age. They have been on every streaming channel at least 15 times. And they are both cool. I probably would have watched it without knowing what the director had done though. It's my kinda Netflix movie. The first half is great! Your typical long-ass slow burn before the fireworks. But the second half...not so much. It slows down to a simmer and just keeps simmering too long and even though i love to rant about the DarkMarvelication of streaming bloody gun porn and how its a cheap way to get Americans to love you and the subject "revenge" is the topic of 65% of every streaming movie that is released, this movie might have been produced by the Obamas and was a little TOO non-lethal for me after all the mean looks Don Johnson gives the hero for a friggin' hour and a half. I liked the hero though. He's from Brixton which makes him a perfect American action star. And speaking of DarkMarvel, I think he's gonna be the new Blade in a new Blade movie.

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I watched Sometimes I Think About Dying starring Jedi warrior Daisy Jazz Isobel Ridley as a sad office drone in the Pacific Northwest who like cottage cheese. It's a "quirky" "indie" based on a play and it feels like a short story. I loved the outdoor shots. So beautiful. Good direction in general. Nice to look at. Rachel Lambert is the director. I don't think I've seen her other movies. It's a small film. No big deal. Pretty quiet. I was in the mood for that tempo. It doesn't overstay its welcome. The office banter was true to life. Funny. Saw it on Mubi.

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I watched about an hour of Boy Kills World before I got antsy like Donald Trump watching kickboxing movies in his airplane and started fast-forwarding. It just got tedious. It wasn't funny and it just felt...hollow. I dunno. I'm pretty easy to please. It was way too long. Oh well. Can't win them all. It felt kinda 90s.

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Monkey Man was better. As far as OTT revenge movies go. And even that movie was too long and not "great". Good though.

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I watched In A Violent Nature on Shudder. It was soothing. A very peaceful walk through the woods with a stop for occasional gore. Ambient horror. I even watched with headphones on.Tom Savini would have enjoyed the gore in this film. But its the woods that I liked. and the bird and bug noises. there is no music which makes it even more bucolic. Canadian horror is underrated. Whenever I go on Shudder I see the picture for When Evil Lurks and I am tempted to watch that again. What an amazing film. I need it on DVD. If you haven't seen that one, watch it! If you like that sort of thing. It's a modern classic.

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I watched Revenge! From 2017. Don't watch this movie if you don't like violence (especially one scene of sexual violence mostly offscreen but very disturbing.) and gore and people putting fingers in wounds and people cauterizing wounds in caves. but watch it if you like fantastic shots and colors and coolness and french people and revenge and peyote as painkiller. that director knows how to make a movie! she is the director who did the new movie The Substance with Demi Moore. i haven't seen that one yet.

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excited for this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsQ4J-gED3o

also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpV9V-EcwtI

i'm tempted to watch Taste again. what a movie. sometimes movies are more magic then anything else. they are something otherworldly. i like that!

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I just watched one of the greatest children's movies that I've ever seen! Riddle of Fire. from 2023. So amazing. I almost cried at the end. Amazing cottagecore soundtrack. Filmed on 16mm Kodak film. I'm ready to watch it again!!! I love it because its critic-proof. Fuck a critic. Fuck adults. I know I like a kid movie when I think about how much I would have loved it when I was a kid. This is that kind of movie. I don't care about its weaknesses. It's on Mubi.

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Just watched KNOX GOES AWAY on Max. It stars Michael Keaton (who also directed it) as a professional killer who's diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a very fast-acting form of dementia. He's only got a few weeks until his brain goes all Donald Trump, so he has to get his affairs in order while also helping out his estranged son with a pretty serious problem. As a professional writer, losing my mind is kind of my greatest fear, so this movie rolled over me like a truck. Bonus points: Marcia Gay Harden's in it, and Al Pacino gives the best performance I've seen from him this century. He plays a believable human being instead of a collection of tics and stage business, and it's great. And Keaton is absolutely fantastic, fading in and out at the worst possible times, etc. Highly recommended.

watched Bangkok Breaking: Heaven and Hell tonight on Netflix. action-packed for realz. like, its 2 & half hours long and 2 hours or more of that is crazy action and civil unrest and organ-harvesting and drug gangs and rich guy armies and running and fire and pigs on fire and bloodshed as our heroes try to escape a doomed and endless maze of a housing project. from Thailand. like an epic widescreen version of Buy Bust without the claustrophobia. based on the Bangkok Breaking t.v. show and made by the same director but i have yet to watch the show. you definitely don't need to watch the show to watch the movie.

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transferring my reviews from LtRbXD. because i never go there. i got enough OCD in my life:

Fever Dream 2021

Have you ever waited 93 minutes for something truly horrible to happen? I have.
Maria Valverde has an excellent nose.
The single greatest moment in this film is when the sullen horseman husband is grooming his horse on a step-ladder and it looks like he has turned into a horse-man! Who needs CGI when you can come up with a shot like that?
Also, If I had fashion model children like the kids in this film, I wouldn't care how evil they were. Mucho dinero!

The Trip 2021

What do you do when there are so many bloody, brutal, torture/revenge Home Alone-for-adults "comedies" out there in the streamaverse? Flip a coin. You can watch this movie and pretend that the lead who plays the husband is actually Bill Burr playing the part and it makes the whole thing funnier. Also, you can totally see Netflix re-making this movie with Bill Burr in 6 months. Heck, in 6 weeks.

The Green Knight 2021

I could have sworn that I only watched the trailer for this film, but, nope, one quick GIS confirmed that I did indeed see it. I swear I haven't been near an edible in months. Dev Patel is definitely the new Adam Driver. Just as Adam Driver was the new Adrien Brody. Just as Adrien Brody was the new....uh...Vincent Gallo? Billy Crudup? Jim Caviezel? The guy who played Fredo? I don't know, he must have been replacing someone out there.
This movie kinda looked like a Beyonce or Gaga video, but didn't cost anywhere near that much to make. So, kudos for being frugal.

Blood Red Sky 2021

Moms on a plane! This was fun. I guess. Who can tell anymore.

Take Out Girl 2021

Not great! But I sorta enjoyed it anyway. Mostly, it made me hungry. For drugs! Kidding. For lo mein.

Oxygen 2021

My first take: AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! That was pretty much my second take as well. For some reason I love torturing myself with my biggest fear which would be being buried alive. Or stuck in a cave. Or buried alive in a cave. Mining disaster. So helpless. Handcuffed and thrown in deep water! Jesus, I just scared the hell out of myself. Remember The Vanishing? The original version. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
This movie is cool. It actually does resemble a science fiction short story. And I am a fan of movies like that.

The White Tiger 2021

It wants to be weightier than it is? It's fine. It smells like Netflix. Everyone is fine in it. I love Priyanka Chopra. Oof. I would never ever complain about being her maid.

Space Sweepers 2021

You should watch this. It's a lot of fun. More fun than a lot of things that are sold to you as "fun". You will like it. Its better than The Wandering Earth which cost China a dollar to make and which made about 400 billion zillion dollars. Don't believe me? Fine, don't believe me. (I mean, I definitely like everything up to the point where I stop watching The Wandering Earth...which I have done like 3 times now because I get so sleepy lately...One of these days, I will see the end. And it well end up being the end of There Will be Blood which has lulled me to sleep at least 5 times now. And Daniel Day-Lewis will save us all.)

Wonder Woman 1984 2020

Remind me what happens in this movie again? Ha! You know you can't. It came out 800 Christmases ago and you have been sooooo drunk ever since and this movie is sooooo long. It's bad too. We love you though, Gal! Never fear. You are the Catherine Zeta-Jones for a warming world. You seem like a good enough icon to follow as any other out there.

The Forgotten Battle 2020

This movie looks like a dream. So nice. The plot? Eh, you've seen it all before. But it doesn't matter because you are busy testing out your hi-fi and your fancy t.v. just like your post-war grandpa used to do with his Zenith and RCA console. You are a shameless consumerist like he was and you might not smoke Lucky Strike but you have legal weed up the wazoo and beer with 50 kinds of hops in it!

The Midnight Sky 2020

Sad Clooney is sad. This movie is pretty to look at. It has something to do with...uh...space...the sky. He's not actually alive and Sandra Bullock....wait...that's not right. Eh, who cares. It's pretty to look at!

Riders of Justice 2020

Mads is mad. When isn't he? His gang of idiots are pretty entertaining. The Ukrainian sex worker who is played for laughs more than once? I don't know what to think. He's a very sympathetic character and the long pointless story he tells is fine indeed. His daughter is a faceless dud but most movie kids are these days. Which is sad! But they aren't really the point of anything. Any more than all the dead movie mothers are. They are devices. Hurdles to jump. This movie ends pretty bleakly for one with so many laughs.

In the Earth 2021

The great thing about all the folk horror movies coming out now is that you get to spend so much time outside. It's very pretty out there apparently. If only we could get David Attenborough to make one before he goes to the great veldt in the sky. He has the best cameras! It could be about a nonagenarian penguin death cult. In Imax obviously.
This film might remind people, superficially, of Annihilation, but I actually like it more. I loved the Southern Reach Trilogy books but the movie tried to cram too much into too little time and...I don't know, it just wasn't very good? It should have been a t.v. series. Even though nobody needs a new t.v. series. There are more now than there are stars in the sky. Anyway, Alex Garland wrote the screenplays for Dredd and 28 Days Later, so, he's golden in my book.
In The Earth is not reinventing the wicker wheel, but the visuals alone make it worth watching. Psychedelic visions abound. There are also some very fine trees to be seen.
Warning: Combat surgery on the go is all the rage these days in film and this movie has some doozy moments. You've probably become expert at turning away at the right time by now.

Hillbilly Elegy 2020

I hope this gets the midnight movie treatment someday a la Rocky Horror Picture Show. The only problem with that is that everyone will come to the theater dressed as Glenn Close! I don't know whether to give it half a star or five stars. It can go either way.
Everyone is so self-aware now, and I was beginning to think that good old camp fun was a thing of the past. Not so! Thank you, Opie.

Stray 2020

I give it two stars just for the cuteness of the dogs. The full story of those homeless Syrian kids would have been a better movie. Not filmed very well or very compellingly. It made me never want to go to Istanbul which is sad. The Turkish tourism board will not be thanking the director. My main takeaway was that I REALLY wanted to find some tulumba like the kind that vendor was selling on the street. I heart fried dough.

Ava 2020

Jessica Chastain had John Malkovich inside HER brain. What a switcheroo. Jessica is a very charismatic actor. I hope she gets to be in better movies someday. Actually, why would I hope that? She's living large. producing and starring in streaming movie after streaming movie. She's not young by Hollywood standards either, and I hear that can be a problem for women. Maybe that's just a rumor. I wish her well. She's cool! She's remaking Bergman in her own image for crying out loud. She is making bank and then putting that bank in the bank. Love that tiny scratch she has in the poster. That's about the size of the reality-based behavior in this movie. You will forget it as soon as your popcorn bag hits the floor.

Lucky Chan-sil 2019

Wonderful! Just watch it. You don't need to know anything else about it.

The Cave 2019

Relentlessly horrifying. One of the saddest and most brutal movies I've ever seen. I had the luxury of pausing this film or looking away. The people in this film had to keep living a nightmare day after day. How anyone could do this...drop those bombs...it's impossible to understand.

Tormento 1950

The wicked stepmother in this movie has to go on any all-time wicked stepmother list. She's evil! Kinda one dimensional too, but that's the kind of melodrama that this is. Operatic.

Censor 2021

The best thing about this movie is the digitally-enhanced colors. I feel like every new horror movie has to have those wild reds and blues. It's fine by me. I love them. The movie isn't much though. A prolonged Tales from the Crypt episode. And you can call someone Enid and give them granny glasses but we can see that your actor could get work as a model. Maybe cast a great actor who looks like your audience? On second thought...

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow 2010

Don't get me wrong: I love Kiefer. I feel like Keifer and Gerhard Richter might be the most compelling Western artists that post-war Capitalism has created. And the fact that they were both born out of some of the worst evil the world has ever been subjected to is probably no coincidence. As artists, they understand people and the earth almost as well as beavers and woodpeckers understand people and the earth. And if some people find them to severe or too monochromatic or too doomed by the past (everything built in this movie made me think of concentration camps), well, that's their problem. I think they're cool!
Having said that, boy does this movie have a boy energy. "Boy" used in an olde-tyme way as in the Boy Scouts or Boy's Town or a Boy's School. When Kiefer is being interviewed and starts talking about the boredom of childhood, you can imagine him daydreaming in his room about what he would do if he ran a town and what he would put in it. The only thing missing from his adult playground in the film is a grey choo choo train made out of broken glass, baling wire, and concrete. The almost parodic SERIOUS music played in the film is distracting. Turn the sound down and crank up some Spike Jones. It's an awesome film to watch! Other than that: Worst. Theme Park. Ever.

Ziyara 2021

This film is fascinating. Its a little short on history lessons, but I guess that's why God invented books. I can always read more. The structure was strangely addictive. I just wanted to meet more caretakers of these relics and graveyards and buildings! Which I totally was not expecting. If you are a Muslim, Jew, or Christian, or just a curious human, you will enjoy this.

The Booksellers 2019

I had an irrational desire to hit all the male booksellers and collectors in this movie over the head and steal their books. They are, in living form, the reason a lot of normal people hate going into a used book store. Or an antiques store. Or a used record store. They are all members of a bygone noxious brotherhood. Not bygone enough unfortunately. The keepers of the keys (ugh, the Grolier Club) need to go. Thank you for keeping the books safe. That much I will give you. But I didn't feel this way about the women in this movie! They were all great! What a breath of fresh air. I hope I live long enough to see that 85%/15% talked about in the film switch around. I probably won't live that long. Luckily, NYC will be underwater in a few years and nobody will have to lament the loss of ancient retail outlets. They can lament the whole thing! I particularly enjoyed St. Mark's Bookshop in my youth.

Bestiary 2012

This movie is a nightmare and very hard to watch. I didn't think I could get through the whole thing. Just a horror film from beginning to end. Those poor animals. The heads of beautiful African animals lining the walls of some dirty French basement. I pray for the quick destruction of humanity. Maybe there will still be a few animals left to enjoy the silence when people are finally and blissfully gone. The firenados and bomb cyclones I see on the news tell me I might not have long to wait.

Mockingbird Don’t Sing 2001

I had to read about the actual case after seeing this, and the true story is so much more horrible and what makes it so tragic is how awful Genie's life was for years after being freed from her father. This world can truly be a living hell for people and it makes you wonder how people can even have hope for the future. This movie is bizarre. Worth watching? I don't even know. It's definitely memorable though. And I am always up for some Kim Darby and Sean Young weirdness. What a frightening planet.

Red Notice 2021

Please please please do not encourage these people by watching this movie. They need to be stopped. It's getting to the point where I can't even remember what movie The Rock made that I thought was worth watching. It has been so very long since that time. How rich does Ryan Reynolds need to be to unfunnily mug like that through movie after movie? Doesn't it make him sad when he sees actual movies? Gal, I dunno, maybe I just have a soft spot for her. She was a model for years, right? She's thinking of her retirement? I don't actually have an excuse for her. You know its a bad sign when you are watching a movie and all you can think of is the environmental toll on the planet that filming must have caused. All the materials and money needed. How that money could have been better spent. This screenplay was definitely written by AI. If there was a screenplay. According to the internet, so, it could be completely wrong, these three people are worth a combined 600 million dollars. Los Angeles has a projected budget deficit of 600 million dollars. I now know what the penalty should be for making this film.

To the Wonder 2012

I'm so glad I didn't see this at a theater. They would have thrown me out for laughing hysterically. So bad. Like an SNL parody of an Obsession ad. You just have to shake your head. We will always have Badlands and Days of Heaven. He can't take that away from us. Even his wheat fixation is lackluster in the 21st century. That hand slowly petting the wheat is something filmed in about 400 American movies. Maybe just ban American movies. They are empty. decadent. self-indulgent. Every other country on earth is making astounding cinema as we speak. This country gets Nomadland. A love letter to Amazon. It deserves Nomadland. So flat. So one-dimensional. Seek out films from South America and Iran and Turkey and South Korea and China and Nigeria. This kind of film is a waste of your time. It really is. Twirl back to your cave, Terrence. Twirl, twirl, twirl.

This Is Where I Leave You 2014

Why did I watch this? Why does anyone do anything? Why are we here? First: there is no way in hell that any of these people are related. Not that that really matters. The whole thing is so dumb. And endless. It never ends. The first time I checked to see how much longer this thing was there was 40 minutes left! Oof. That hurt. I hope these people spent their paychecks wisely. Diversified their holdings. How much money could they possibly need? They could, collectively, fund a hundred small interesting low-budget films where they get to stretch and take chances. They will never do this. They looooooove money. Who doesn't?

Pig 2021

Kinda like a really dumb Nomadland for Chuck Palahniuk fanboys. I mean, that restaurant industry underground fight club where the waitstaff gets to beat hobos to death is one of the more ridiculous things I've seen in a long time and I've seen Nic Cage movies from the last decade. This wouldn't even make a top 20 dumbest Nic Cage films of the last decade list though. Not even the one where he fights the animatronic animal ghost robots would. That's how dumb his latter-day movies are. The only thing missing from this movie was the end of the world. Maybe they ran out of money. I liked the pig though. I gave this film an extra 1/2 star for the pig.

Hell and High Water 1954

This movie looks so cool. And I watched it on Youtube! I guess I need a Blu-ray if there is one. Those colors. Wow. The plot doesn't really matter. And when the lights go red in that sub you will see why. Did I mention how cool it looks? Kudos to Mr. Fuller.

The Comedian 2016

This is such a warm, soothing bath of aging American movie icons. Comedy icons. Its not that everyone is so hilarious in this film, it's just comforting. Comforting can be nice! These are troubled times! Their voices are like a lullaby. I love that they got an ACTUAL Jazz musician to do the score. It makes a big difference. I was digging it.

Kinda like a really dumb Nomadland for Chuck Palahniuk fanboys

Hilarious and accurate. I didn't necessarily hate it, but the critical love this one got threw me.

I watched Riddle Of Fire with Maria. Just as fun the second time around.

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Technically, it's a movie, but I don't think I need to talk about Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara on here too much. It was sad and the internet sucks. That about sums it up.

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I watched Johnny Eager from 1942 on TCM. Robert Taylor and Lana Turner are cool and all, but Van Heflin steals the show with his role as a dissolute dipsomaniac braniac so obviously in love with Robert Taylor. The plot is....uh....see, Robert Taylor is on parole working as a cab driver but he's really a criminal mastermind running a dog track...plot shmot. The script is awesome. So fun to listen to. Directed by Mervyn Leroy.

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screenplay was by John Lee Mahin and James Edward Grant. check out John Lee Mahin's credits:

Writer
The Unholy Garden (1931) – uncredited
The Beast of the City (1932; dialogue continuity, as John L. Mahin)
The Wet Parade (1932; adaptation, as John L. Mahin)
Scarface (1932; dialogue continuity)
Tiger Shark (1932) – uncredited
Red Dust (1932; screenplay, as John Mahin)
Rasputin and the Empress (1932) – uncredited
Hell Below (1933; dialogue)
Bombshell (1933; screenplay)
The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)
Eskimo aka Mala the Magnificent (1933)
Laughing Boy (1934)
Treasure Island (1934; screenplay)
Chained (1934)
Naughty Marietta (1935)
China Seas (1935) – uncredited
Riffraff (1936) – uncredited
Wife vs. Secretary (1936; screenplay)
Small Town Girl (1936)
The Devil is a Sissy (1936)
Love on the Run (1936)
Captains Courageous (1937)
A Star Is Born (1937)
The Last Gangster (1937)
Test Pilot (1938) – uncredited
Too Hot to Handle (1938; screenplay)
The Wizard of Oz (1939) – uncredited
Boom Town (1940)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Johnny Eager (1942; screenplay)
Woman of the Year (1942) – uncredited
Tortilla Flat (1942; screenplay)
The Adventures of Tartu (1943)
Combat America (1943) (documentary)
Adventure (1945) – uncredited
The Yearling (1946) – uncredited
That Wonderful Urge (1948) – uncredited
Down to the Sea in Ships (1949)
Love That Brute (1950)
Panic in the Streets (1950) – uncredited
Show Boat (1951)
Quo Vadis (1951)
My Sơn John (1952; adaptation)
Mogambo (1953)
Elephant Walk (1954)
Lucy Gallant (1955)
The Bad Seed (1956; screenplay)
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
No Time for Sergeants (1958)
The Horse Soldiers (1959) – also uncredited producer
The Barbarians (1960) – also producer
North to Alaska (1960; screenplay) – also uncredited producer
The Spiral Road (1962)
Moment to Moment (1966)
The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971–1972) (TV series) (episodes "Identity Crisis" and "Old School Ties")

To The Wonder Ov Film once again, thanx skot.
And speaking of

It was soothing. A very peaceful walk through the woods with a stop for occasional gore. Ambient horror.

yah, a good one. based on the book by former actor tom tryon of Harvest Home fame.

https://prod-images.tcm.com/Master-Profile-Images/TomTryon.194543.jpg

True!
In the same sunlit vein, I like Let's Scare Jessica To Death, with the awesomely chiaroscuro (sound and vision) Zora Lamphert, as a young wife self-consciously trying to make up for having gone crazy in the city---now she's determined to be very, very good, getting it together in the country, man---though this is 1971, near the crispy cusp, and her hub has brought her to an olde house in New England, which is real pretty, if a little too bright, too passing-shadowy, too detailed, not to get on anybody's nerves occasionally, true also of the locals. Movie changed during the making, is maybe a bit shaky for some viewers, but adds to good effect, I think.

Turn of the Screw an obv. influence, but got its own 1971 American sickness etc.

Also got Zora!

When Evil Lurks is my fave horror movie of recent times. Of the last year or two. It is gruesome and gory, but it has that old-fashioned dread and is genuinely horrific in a very cool way. there is sunlight as well.

https://creepycatalog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/11/when_evil_lurks_2023_pedro_screaming_knees_yard.jpg?w=768

I watched the original Danish Speak No Evil from 2022 on Shudder. It was okay! I think I wanted to love it more than I did. The ending made me think about the original version of The Vanishing. Seeing that at the movies and being all freaked out. I never saw the remake. I don't think I need to see the new remake of this. I can't imagine that it's better. I feel like the setup for this movie was juuuuuuuuust a little too long. It's most of the movie. They could have edited it down and made the creepycrawly ending even creepier. But whatevs. It looked cool. Decent movie. Not scary though.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Speak-No-Evil-2-Sundance-Film-Festival-Publicity-H-2022.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1

I watched Evil Does Not Exist from 2023 on the Criterion Channel. Pretty as a picture. The most bare bones plot of any bare bones plot that ever plotted. You totally see the Chekhovian wildlife coming a mile away but that's okay. And that ending! Uh, how about that ending...that ending? I just went with it. What else am i going to do other than go with it? This movie will make you want to chop wood and eat spring-fed udon noodles. A must-see? Maybe not. You could take a walk in the woods instead.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2Y2ZmMwNDktNDk2YS00MWVlLWFiYTItOTU3MmIxOWQwNjA4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXNvbG5vbXM@._V1_.jpg

https://media.wbur.org/wp/2024/05/EvilDoesNotExist_Still6.jpg

https://platform.polygon.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25458979/MCDEVDO_EC006.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100

I watched the Filipino movie Outside from 2024 on Netflix. A well-acted nightmarish family drama filled with trauma and mental illness WITHIN a zombie movie. It isn't that scary but its pretty riveting and sad and definitely gory/bloody when it wants to be. If you like a more nuanced small ensemble apocalypse you might like it.

https://media.philstar.com/photos/2024/09/20/outside-sid-lucero-beauty-gonzales_2024-09-20_13-11-32.jpg

https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/outside4.jpg

https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Outside-2024-Movie-Ending.webp

Watched Guie'dani's Navel on Ovid. Sad. Good. Really well done. You are stuck in a house with a mother and daughter from Oaxaca who are maids to a rich family from Mexico City. The daughter ain't having it. Minimal in the way of plot. Yet compelling!

https://static.pragda.com/uploads/2020/01/Guiedani-3.jpg

https://static.pragda.com/uploads/2020/01/Guiedani-1-1200x600.jpg

https://i2.wp.com/www.sinembargo.mx/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/xquipiguiedani_08.jpg?fit=1100%2C580&quality=80&strip=all&ssl=1

Cyrus was home so we watched One Piece: Strong World which wasn't great. But it was okay. It's rated really high as far as the movies go, but, ehhh, I dunno. Great villain in Shiki. The crazy animals were fun. But for some reason it just wasn't very compelling.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/onepiece/images/3/32/Shiki_Anime_Infobox.png/revision/latest?cb=20230826192523

https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/07/8fc56-17199367551146-1920.jpg

https://animereporter.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/one-piece-movie-10-strong-world-16.jpg

Then tonight we watched One Piece: Z which was LOADS better. So good. Satisfying like a good One Piece meal. Entertaining. Lots of forward momentum. Definitely one to watch if you like the show. Everyone does cool stuff. The crew is together for an entire movie! It's a lot of fun. Lots of great regulars show up. Borsalino. Kuzan is very cool in it. Zephyr is a cool villain.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/447578fd324bd995b858d4f317c47197/tumblr_inline_pnhnlwGzlf1s2yta0_1280.jpg

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/onepiece/images/b/bc/Kuzan_Meets_Zephyr.png/revision/latest?cb=20140722073843

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/onepiece/images/4/4f/Zephyr%27s_Final_Stand.png/revision/latest?cb=20130707070248

oops. bad pics. oh well.

I watched Inside The Red Brick Wall a doc from 2020 made anonymously by different people with phones/cameras. Hong Kong protesters take over a college campus and the police surround the campus and the protesters are stuck there for two weeks knowing that if they leave they will be arrested. Panic ensues. Pretty intense stuff.

https://docsbarcelona.com/storage/uploads/movies/inside-the-red-brick-wall-still2-(6).jpg

https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:944/1*xOoQPjPM2Y70rgWwj0LCpQ.jpeg

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/inside_the_red_brick_wall-294789206-large.jpg

https://www.tidf.org.tw/sites/www.tidf.org.tw/files/styles/node_films_photo_carousel_main_2021/public/imagecache/li_da_wei_cheng_03_0.jpg?itok=mAnJoy_-

I started to watch the movie Carriers because I just really needed to see the United States wiped out by disease right now but jeez that is one bad movie. Stopped halfway through. I couldn't do it. Chris Pine is as dull as infected dishwater. What a dud. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. haha, I thought of that all by myself.

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Features124/v4/c8/f5/c9/c8f5c98d-3f47-3dc6-c094-69c16625bceb/mzl.ykzopxen.png/1200x675mf.jpg

For some reason I started watching Widow Clicquot last night on Netflix and then just kept watching it! I had no idea. It looked nice and I enjoyed the sound. Very peaceful. All the French people are British in it so that's a plus. Hahaha! Kidding, French people. Not! Hahaha! No, I'm kidding. I didn't even care about the champagne. Or the vin-YARD. everyone says it like that. vin-YARD. It's very soap-y but also you could make fun of it you wanted but also it can be pretty to look at and listen to. something for everyone.

https://rialtocinemas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Widow-Clicquot-still-2.jpg

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/Widow-5.png

https://mcswebsites.blob.core.windows.net/1033/Event_11432/gallery/1644495.jpg

My wife watched that without me last night. She was telling me about it at breakfast — "It's about a widow who makes the best champagne in France" — and I immediately asked, "Is it the best because she's weeping into the barrels, like Like Water For Chocolate?" She said no.

she does talk to the grapes...

it was VERY relaxing. even the crazy husband was kinda soothing.

it was made for suburban fantasies. people across the country daydreaming about their partner going mad and dying and leaving them to become the greatest winemaker in the world! and also having a little you-know-what with the wine distributor...

The Shadow Strays is better than any 21st century American movie I can think of other than...Elf? Holes? Holes was good. Hot Wheels:World Race? Training Day was pretty good. Anyway, this country could learn everything there is to learn about film from a place like Indonesia. Film of the year! Do not watch if blood from body is a no go for you.

https://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/The-Shadow-Strays_Still_01_de7d80.jpg

https://i0.wp.com/cinapse.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image-11.png?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1

https://cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/the-shadow-strays-1.jpg

Not really worth mentioning, but I watched Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy on Netflix though there was nothing new about its bleak message. I don't know what it will do. How it will help. The whole world is just drowning in crap. It's sad. 13 million phones are thrown away every day? For real? Also: they had a little too much fun with their AI fx in that doc. But, hey, the message is worth messaging i guess. Will people stop buying really cheap crap that magically appears on their doorstep? No. They never will.

https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Textile-Waste-Fashion-Swapan-Photography-Shutterstock.jpg

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/GGxflwB4u_0RJ2UquDsZ5w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/t3_620/fcabd6a0a15395e56ccf8aad75ba69df

https://resizing.flixster.com/snD3VN9i0dWiMQO13O8lnx9TxFE=/fit-in/705x460/v2/https://resizing.flixster.com/N8RWFBGPgF6c1Af-KGBFrz7Du74=/ems.cHJkLWVtcy1hc3NldHMvbW92aWVzLzRkYTJiZjQ4LWQ2MTktNDI5NC1hMGUyLWYyZjc4YWIxNDNjNC5wbmc=

I finally watched The Substance! I dug it. Kinda David Cronenberg's Tales from the Crypt. I really did expect The Cryptkeeper to show up halfway through. But, you know, that's just the nature of *be careful what you wish for* horror. It's always going to remind me of fairy tales and Twilight Zone and TFTC and Night Gallery and Creepshow and EC Comics. Also, that last half hour totally made the movie. It seemed a little long but it was all worth it in the end. Lots of fun. I like both of the Coralie Fargeat movies I've seen. I talked about the other one on here. I hope she gets a big budget action horror bloodbath to direct. She is good at blood and action and glitchy body noises. I've been watching Demi since General Hospital and I'll always be fond of her. She probably has some scary plastic surgery stories she could tell! I always wonder if people who have their face and body worked on for years have scary face and body dreams. There should be a book of scary face and body dreams. Also: visually, Fargeat has a cool eye. Which is why I want a ton more movies by her.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/PDEPZ4QSEFAGZE37RWJYT6NPPE.jpg?auth=fcc1758941184678c55a25de39de62e060912ed4c67f2c8c8e8a082dedfde75c&width=640&height=512&quality=70&focal=711%2C412&smart=false

https://images.ladbible.com/resize?type=webp&quality=70&width=3840&fit=contain&gravity=auto&url=https://images.ladbiblegroup.com/v3/assets/bltcd74acc1d0a99f3a/bltea857cfe4421a07b/66fbfcd1191043ab515a2e91/Screenshot_2024-10-01_at_14.42.30.png

https://ds.static.rtbf.be/article/image/1920x1920/2/0/b/b416e5eed029205cec41e5c56557b5ba-1730293822.jpg

I watched Youth (Spring) a documentary by Wang Bing. It's 3 and half hours long and worth every penny. I mean minute. Wang Bing filmed people at work and out of work for 5 years. It's pretty compelling. I wanted to keep watching. It was very watchable. Young kids working hard and smoking hard and laughing a lot too. They make children's clothing all day long in small workshops/factories all on one street. They are 16 years old and up. And they live above the shops. Its an immersive movie.

https://pad.mymovies.it/filmclub/2023/04/121/coverlg.jpg

https://www.filmlinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Youth-Spring-1-1600x900-c-default.jpg

https://www.filmlinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Youth-Spring-3-1600x900-c-default.jpg

I also watched Arrebato (Rapture) from 1979. Spanish. Madrid. Completely demented. Lots of heroin and a goth Harry Potter who lives in the woods and makes movies who steals the show. That is some serious art house. It's not horror really. I don't know what it is. It has some really cool shots. artful and druggy use of slime! now i see that its one of almodovar's faves and he did a dubbed voice for one of the women in the movie and i totally know what scenes those were because her voice was so off. i missed this in my cult art flick philly TLA roxy movie theater days.

https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Arrebato.jpeg

https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Arrebato.jpeg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjC0E-k6sS6p2eI-u1k_ezDEjamvaj3J6rkMOZDZ8SYGGSg8aZeiUD8HSBxGAeL8gJFZ1WbLesejmJ6e1oguXmP3wd3JYVGOk2qgMKVf1A61BAsTgQp5BxYpjVH1_BcklTfwLET8jkpO9KwiDj_JOlB2zScRqYvZGrlXE5NVSJ3X4DPSKR2slhpMnn3=w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu

https://musicboxtheatre.com/sites/default/files/styles/page_images/public/arrebato-still-2.jpg?itok=6Az3uUNC

Who dat

Twisters is a pretty long tornado movie. It's 90s long. It's 90s rap album long. I kept wanting to stop...but somehow i made it through the storm alive.

https://static.cnews.fr/sites/default/files/styles/image_750_422/public/twisters_box_office_669deae7a32dc_0.jpg?itok=-78-wFCa

https://coisadecinefilo.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-3-1.png

https://ambrosia.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Twisters-capa.jpg.webp

I really like this bag.

https://www.foodandwine.com/thmb/K3r09kIspA4_GOU0xcujg0r_Ysk=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Fritos-Twisters-Limited-Edition-Snack-FT-BLOG0724-68e3ae290242465eb2ada20bdf91417b.jpg

I watched Thanksgiving. It was just there. I wanted to like it more. I liked the early black friday stampede the best! that part was funny. and that was before the whole slashery thing. It was also edited really poorly. Not the action editing. The transition stuff was choppy. you know, like in a cheap movie. no biggie. it was too long too. it wasn't lean or mean. or scary. but other than that it was fine.

https://www.themoviefashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Thanksgiving-Gina-Gershon-Coat.jpg

https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/thanksgiving-eli-roth-image.jpg

https://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Thanksgiving-2023-film.jpg

I finally saw Hundreds of Beavers. It's about time. That should be a holiday favorite from now on. I just can't imagine the work involved. Sheesh. What a film. And I watched it on Youtube even!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guE0Qd8BRw0

https://nhhsarcade.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/HOB4-1200x654.png

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYmI5ZWZhMTAtMTI4Mi00M2VkLThjN2QtNTRlYmZjMjRhNzA1XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjhiZTZmODEtYmRkZS00NmY1LWJmNWItNjM2NDMzNzg1ZTYxXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg