WaPo has a glowing review of a new Netflix version of Decameron that I am excited to watch this weekend. Anyone with actual viewing experience?
Annoying gift link where you may have to register to actually read:
Being that I can barely remember the episode(s?) we watched last night, I appreciate the clip. I have zero recollection of that ditty, but now I HAVE to watch that one again 
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We watched Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. If you are one of those Kristen Wiig haterz, this movie is not for you, although her performance(s) here aren’t nearly as over the top as some others.
It’s pretty light entertainment, with a few scenes that literally made us laugh out loud. Doesn’t hurt that every middle-aged lady’s wet dream, Jamie Dornan, is also part of the cast.
I might’ve shared this short Richard Cheese ditty with my keyboarder as a possible interlude for one of our upcoming shows 
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I am still watching All-American on Netflix. Currently on Season 5 and looking forward to Seasons 6 and 7. While the series revolves around football, it’s about much more than that and is actually really good.
The eccentricities worked for Death in Paradise, but I’ve found Professor T to be silly in its depiction of academia and borderline offensive (if not fully so) about mental illness and neurodivergence, or whatever it’s trying to do.
Dead pan comedy ala the beloved late. 70’s tv series, Soap humor comes Netflix’s comedic take on the book of tales, Decameron.
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I loved that film. And lost it at Jamie Dornan’s musical number. Meanwhile, Wiig and Mumalo have really excellent chemistry.
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That was a bit much for me (but damn, the guy can dance and stay in key!), but we really had quite a few good laughs. Some of it was just so random
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Longlegs
I agree with you that Longlegs is not living up to its hype, but I’m inclined to be slightly more generous toward it.
My overall impression was: If The Shining-era Stephen King had written Silence of the Lambs, which was them adapted by a The Shining-era Stanley Kubrick, you’d get something like this. Only without the weird magic that makes Kubrick’s film actually work as its own thing.
One thing to note is that the director here is Osgood Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins of Psycho fame. What people may not know is that Anthony Perkins was gay in a time when that was NOT ok. He had a years-long relationship w/ Tab Hunter that was tanked by the studios. Perkins loathed his own homosexuality to such a degree that he submitted to conversion therapy and entered a straight marriage w/ a studio secretary, of whom Osgood is one of the products. Anthony Perkins died of AIDS-related complications in the early 90’s, and apparently Osgood’s mother Berry steadfastly maintained Anthony’s ‘secret’ up to her death in 2001.
Osgood has said how this story in particular is about how parents can lie out of a misguided desire to protect their children.
In light of all that, the story has a LOT to unpack, though that doesn’t excuse it from still seeming like a well executed imitation of more original works.
I’m not sure what Cage was going for with his choice of look for the character. It’s not quite the offensive trans stereotype that was unfortunately cryatalized so well in Silence of the Lambs, but it skates awfully close. Mostly it’s just baffling, which is sometimes what you get w/ Cage. Often, his left field performances add a chaotic edge that makes a movie really come alive, but here it just looks like was beamed in from Planet Weirdo. He’s this scenery chewing thing in a sea of repression and gray.
Unless you’re curious about it in an academic sort of way, I’d say all but the most devoted horror fans can safely skip it.
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Watched Abigail last night, a 2024 horror movie my PIC had chosen & not told me anything about. It’s hard to avoid any spoilers if you even just google it, including the short plot summary for it on Prime (which is a shame).
Well, I for one was blissfully unaware of the twist, and it made for a fun surprise. Not scary, really, but entertaining, with a good sense of humor and Dan Stevens from Downton Abbey in a very different role.
Also, the special effects folks musta had a BLAST (pun intended) with this one.
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The directors of Abagail (and you’re right, it’s terrific, if very gorey and splattery fun) were/are part of a collective called “Radio Silence”. They’re responsible for some really great horror films of the last decade or so, including segments in the original.V/H/S series (and followups), to the dynamite anthology film Southbound to 2019’s surprise horror comedy Ready or Not. Suffice it to say, Ready or Not and Abagail share a fondness for messy (but hilarious) deaths.
The ending spends some time setting up sequels that aren’t strictly necessary, but this is otherwise a fun, nasty little flick with some really funny dialogue.
Recommended.
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We’ve watched a bunch in the V/H/S series, and liked some more than others. Thanks for the Southbound recommendation, which we have not seen. On the list. Ready or Not was fun, too.
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Berry Berenson was an actress and model and her sister, Marisa Berenson was/is quite famous. Grandmother was Elsa Schiaparelli, a famous designer. She died on one of the flights that flew into the WTC on 9/11. Perkins was a sad story and I hope that can actors can be who they are now although I still think there is still a bit of hiding going on especially if you want to be a “leading man” type.
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there was some talk about Nosferatu here recently. some my be interested in this project rolling out in October. anything that tries to revitalize these great films is a worthy endeavor in my book.
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Wow! Hopefully some arthouse cinema in Philly will show it — or I’ll time our trips to the city in a way it’ll coincide with showings there. What a brilliant idea.
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The Vourdalak (2023) - dir. Adrian Beau
It’s the 18th century, and a bewigged and face-powdered French courtier has been attacked by bandits somewhere in central Europe. Seeking help, he knocks at a house, only to be told there is no shelter to be found. He should get through the woods as soon as possible to find the house of old Gorach, who will help him.
And find the house, he does. Only Gorach is not at home. Only his children and their families. The old man went off to fight the Turks, but it’s been six days since he left. He cautioned his family that if he did not return within that time, that they should beware, as he will have become a vourdalak, a creature that only desires the blood of its loved ones, to turn them into vourdalaks themselves.
This film is all about the vibe. Shot in grainy, shallow-focused 16mm, the look, feel, and French dialogue all play like those old 60’s-70’s Jean Rollin or Jess Franco vampire movies. All misty woods and shrouded figures. All that’s missing is the gratuitous nudity and male-gaze-centered ‘lesbianism’, and really, they’re not missed all that much. Or at all. The lighting is naturalistic, with flickering shadows from candlelit rooms casting menacing figures against stone walls. The practical effects are surprising and done with a surprising amount of care and subtlety for something as weird as what’s presented here. There’s even some very welcome moments of humor in an otherwise tragic tale that predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula by more than 50 years.
It’s great fun to see different takes on familiar concepts. This one is VERY well conceived and brilliantly executed, and most certainly isn’t your usual vampire flick. Worth seeking out.
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The Olympics are here! These are both absolutely hilarious.
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This was so well done.
Really enjoyed the first two episodes of Time Bandits on apple. They’ve kept the same quirky humor as the original movie which was written by two of the Monty Python guys- Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam (also the director). Love the jumping into different time periods and all the mayhem that ensues…
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Oh! Thx for the reminder. That had slipped my mind. They drop an epi each week, correct?
