Oh, so corny but oh, so fun:
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Oh I would watch this! 
Night of the Hunter (1955) - dir. Charles Laughton
Like Walter Murch’s Return to Oz, this is the only directorial effort of actor Charles Laughton (best known as Quasimodo in 1939’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Unlike Murch’s somewhat messy effort, this is a stellar affair, considered a true classic for good reason.
We have Robert Mitchum as the homicidal preacher Harry Powell, who excuses his robbing and murdering widows as twisted instructions from God. With his tattooed knuckles, the right hand of “LOVE” and left hand of “HATE” he spins old timey fire and brimstone preaching to fool the folks of a small town, and cozy up to the widow of a dead bank robber who may have hidden his takings at his home before his arrest and execution. Shelly Winters is the widowWilla Harper, and Lillian Gish plays the righteous and heroic Rachel, one of the few folks who isn’t fooled by Mitchum’s “Holy Roller” shpiel.
Poor initial reception led Laughton to give up film directing and stick to the stage, which is a pity. He uses his extensive background going back to the silent film era and celebrated stage work to put together beautiful stylized sets, and clearly knows how to get fabulous performances from his cast. The film is now considered among the best films ever made, keeping company with the likes of Citizen Kane and Some Like It Hot.
There’s a lot to unpack, from the film’s rather progressive views of women’s sexuality, it’s skeptical view of, if not religion, then of the ostentatiously religious, and their inevitable blindness and hypocrisy.
All the stars. Mandatory viewing.
This is one of those classics that I somehow never got around to seeing til now. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my local repertory microcinema lately? They’re looking to expand to a new location with as many as 50(!) seats in the new year. I can’t wait!
Here’s a plug for them. If you’re ever in the Sacramento area and looking for some of the best film programming around, look here.
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We gave up on it after 2nd episode. I’ll take some plot lines that are eyerolling but the lady with two small kids and married to a cabinet minister with no security system, who forgets to lock doors after a murder attempt, vanquishes a huge special ops guys and leaves his body in her back yard seemed a bit much. I don’t know, I love all the actors so may give it another try at some point.
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I have to admit I didn’t pay nearly as much attention to those deets. I had low expectations, but I suppose it was rather contrived, and most of the characters are awful human beings.
Not sure I’d watch a second season if there were one 
I watched the first episode of season 2 of Elsbeth last night and that’s about my level of acceptable violence these days. Also had Nathan Lane in it which is always a bonus. Keep hoping some of the Good Fight actors might pop up in an episode. Turned off Day of the Jackal after first 10 minutes but may give it a second try.
Last episode of What We do in the Shadows was excellent. I’m going to miss those crazy vampires.
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Same. And those lovable hilarious Kansans from Somebody Somewhere.
Yesss! We watched the final episode last night. Loved the Unusual Suspects reference, too.
I also kept wondering why Nadja seemed to be wearing 10 dresses on top of each other, but a quick google answered that 
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What we (and millions) have NOT been watching lately – for over a year now – are DVDs delivered from the now defunct Netflix physical catalog to our mailbox. It’s sad to search the streaming screen for favorite titles (the site usually predicts the query after enough keystrokes) and receiving the message: “We don’t have that title” when it once did in DVD form. Anyone else miss looking at your queue of reserved DVDs and anticipating?
Don’t you wish there were a site where you could get almost any movie? I loved Shadowlands but it was unavailable.
I really enjoyed Juror #2, directed by (94 year old!) Clint Eastwood. It just debuted on MAX.
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Of course, restaurateur “Mr. Callahan” has a good palate:
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Nice menu and nice view!
One of the great films. And Robert Mitchum is everything.
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Double feature on the big screen last night.
First up, Alien: Romulus, which was fucking excellent. Entertaining, genuinely tense, with lots and lots of references to the OG Alien, and much better than the dull and awful Prometheus.
Second, Kinds of Kindness. I positively loved Poor Things & had expectations. These were underwhelmed & eventually pissed off. WTF did we watch?
I guess I’m not into artsy movies enough to get it. Nope.
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Huh. I’m pretty much the exact opposite opinion on both those movies. I thought Romulus started fun, but the more deliberate callbacks to the original, superior film left it wanting via comparison. And every time they attempted to tie in the extended ‘lore’ of the prequels (Prometheus, Covenant) I was reminded how much I disliked both of those. It was probably a decent idea but a sloppy execution.
I LOVED Kinds of Kindness, but I’ve been in the tank for almost anything Lanthimos does, and Jesse Plemmons’ work is way, way up there. I wouldn’t be surprised if it got a nom.
And, honestly, Emma Stone’s dance sequence near the end is worth the admission price alone.
We have advance tix to Robert Egger’s Nosferatu on Xmas day. Review will follow shortly.
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See, bc I was bored AF watching the prequels, I didn’t even recognize any such attempts. I’m far from a scifi geek, tho. Come to think of it… far from an ‘anything’ geek.
The dance at the end was my dinosaurs in Tree of Life. Yes, Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone are both amazing. This movie — to me — was trying a little hard to convey some message that will be forever lost on me
We have plans to see Nosferatu as well next week.
Started in on the promisingly titled Carnage for Christmas, which unfortunately turned out to be Very Chatty and Much Too Indy for our taste. We lasted about 10-15 min before we turned it off & pivoted to the much better Don’t Move.
Very good, in fact.
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Saw this one last week, for the first time no less (movie from 1993). Based on a true story, about a young man trying to realise his dream of playing for his favourite football team, despite his physical shortcomings.
Predictable, yes, but also very old fashioned - in a good way - Hollywood movie. Perfect for xmas, without being (too) sappy.
