A few reviews . . (film or TV) — Page 194

Law And Order - 1932 - 6/10

Frame Johnson, brother Luther, sidekick Deadwood, and shotgun wielding Doc Brandt arrive in Tombstone.
Where a gang of outlaws rule, rustle cattle and shoot opponents in the back.
Tensions simmer until conflict flares at the OK Corral.
Violent Pre-Code is a reimagined version of Wyatt Earp.
Earp had died just three years previously, and widow Josephine was fiercely protective.
Not as sanitized as all later versions (which omitted Earp’s brothels, thieving, etc…).
Pristine restoration in 2025, along with commentary.

Nine Puzzles - 2025 - 6/10
AKA - Nain Peojeul // 나인 퍼즐

“I really hate people. Why the hell do you work so hard just to stay alive?
“Why would you struggle to live? I don’t see the point of it.”
Nihilistic K-drama involves the search for a serial killer.
One targeting the powerful and influential.
Fans of interlocking mysteries and compartmentalized puzzles may enjoy.
The profiler is too young to be believable, and the sock-hat cop rings wrong.
Who and why, worked out. How, is completely overlooked.

Never Hike Alone - 2017 - 6/10

Hiker and podcaster Kyle notices the “No Trespassing” sign and steps over it.
He needs to make up time and decides on a shortcut by the lake.
Hey, there’s an abandoned campsite here!

Crystal Lake? Didn’t something happen here back in the 80’s?
Jason somebody? Sounds like a campfire myth.
Homage to a franchise builds slowly, but it gets there.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3369821

Chicken Town - 2025 - 5/10

Lee causes the actual accident, but shifts blame to best mate Jayce.
Who receives ten months incarceration. Upon release, he starts looking.
An old geezer discovers he has been growing reefer for years.
Local punks taunt school children.
Odd assorted premises and characters bounce at random.
This plays like a draft, a series of sketches, and desperately needs a rewrite to tighten the plot.

Confessions - 2010 - 7/10
AKA - Kokuhaku // 告白

The students are unruly, untamed, ungovernable. Immune from consequences.
Teacher Yuko is leaving, but not before infecting two with HIV.
The unnamed pair who had murdered her four-year-old daughter.
Why?
Psychological thriller of confessions, explanations, half-baked rationale, denials.
Gripping throughout. Horror or justification for those who believe the axiom “spare the rod”.

Stigma - 1977 - 6/10

Workmen voice they would leave the stone undisturbed, but the new owner wants it shifted.
Katherine, standing nearby when it is lifted, feels an ill wind course through her.
Afterward, she is increasingly out of sorts, blood weeping from her pores.
The landscape casts a timeless aura, and explanations are vague guesses.
Katherine is able to keep the blood secret from her family, which I found surprising.
(Note: My bride said females keep secrets from men all the time. Point.)

The Devil Wears Prada is fantastic film and completely amazing movie. A wonderful experience!

The film The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a stellar sequel that’s almost better than the original! A must see!

The Ghost - 1963 - 5/10
AKA - Lo Spettro

“Who’s there?”
Stupid man, he tricked me with that will. After all I did for him.
“What’s that noise?”
I don’t care if the village is talking, if everyone suspects.
Everyone knew he took poison. Trying to cure his paralysis.
Lavishly furnished Italian Gothic crawls like a snail in the icebox.
Poorly directed or incompetence, take your pick.

Toys In The Attic - 1963 - 6/10

Julian and child bride Lily return to New Orleans on the sly.
The Chicago venture had been a failure. Indeed, everything Julian attempted failed.
Well, his sisters would bail him out. They always bailed him out.
I knew this was based a Lillian Hellman play; otherwise, I would have sworn Tennessee Williams.
Southern Gothic of betrayal, lust, class, race, control.
Award winner on Broadway, but definitely too steamy and provocative for Main Street.
Geraldine Page arresting as the bubbles and sunshine sister, with an agenda.
Dean Martin fine as the luckless, boastful, big-plans Julian.

Eerie - 2018 - 6/10

Too many girls have been found dead at the Catholic girl’s school.
Murdered, suicide, misadventure.
Guidance counselor Patricia intervenes, butts heads with boss Sor Alice.
Interviews the unhappy girls, including the deceased.
Filipino horror mines guilt, persecution, mystery.
Religious overtones may deter many.

Tipping The Velvet - 2002 - 6/10

Young Nan takes up with an older female, a male impersonator, and heads to London.
Friendship glides into more taboo territory as they work closer as a team.
Adventures move across prostitution, cross-dressing, coming-of-age.
Overtly lesbian, and a feast for fashionistas.
If you watch enough BBC shows, you will recognize the superb casting in this.

Giant - 1956 - 6/10

Overblown melodrama of rich man / poor man saga.
Powerful rancher Benedict gets hisself an East Coast bride and hauls her back to Texas.
Where Miss Leslie soon realizes how uppity the whole stinking sons of Benedict clan are.
A diversion, and solace, is neighbor Jett, a wildcatter and white trash.
The underlying theme is about breaking. Breaking a filly, breaking the new wife, breaking the lower orders.
Characters and sideplots galore. Few are compelling.
Three and a half hours of Texas bombast. All hat, no cattle.

First A Girl - 1935 - 6/10

Aspiring performer Elizabeth is befriended by female impersonator Victor.
When misfortune strikes, she steps in and pretends to be a man, pretending to be a woman.
Continental acclaim ensues.
Music, romance, comedy in breezy remake of 1933’s Victor And Victoria.
Several gaudy musical numbers, over-the-top and weirdly irresistible.
Songs are not so catchy to me, but I was fascinated by the triple rhyming structure of many.
Jessie Matthews is adorably cute.
Like Joan Morgan before her, Hollywood made Matthews an offer (Damsel In Distress with Fred Astaire).
Her studio refused to let her go. The indifferent hand of Fortune.

The Absent One - 2014 - 7/10
AKA - Fasandræberne (aka: Disgrace)

Before his suicide, a retired detective asks Mørck to look into the old murder of his children.
Mørck dismisses him, then, guilt-ridden, begins to dig though the old files.
Zeroing in on a prestigious boarding school for the rich and troubled.
As with The Keeper Of Lost Causes there are reams of plot and legwork.
The villains are wealthy, prone to Inflicting brutal injuries.
At the center is a witness from decades earlier, now sought by both sides.
Better for fans of police thrillers, rather than viewers who desire in-depth characterizations.

The Amusement Park - 1975 - 6/10

The man enters the white waiting room and encounters a doppelganger of sorts.
Who warns him that the outside world, the Amusement Park, is not worth it.
Nevertheless, old as he is, the man wants to see it, to experience Life.
Out in the world, the elderly are cheated, robbed, disrespected, marginalized, institutionalized.
In many ways, the journey is the daily nightmare of old folks.
Save your pennies, children, for tomorrow glides ever closer.
What George Romero calls the Amusement Park, I have always termed the Great Parade.

Bakeneko: A Vengeful Spirit - 1968 - 7/10
AKA - Kaibyô Noroi no Numa // 怪猫呪いの沼

The pool is haunted. The curse warns men about coveting females on certain anniversaries.
Heedless, the lord sees a minister’s lovely daughter and demands her as another concubine.
Yukiji, engaged and in love, refuses to her peril.
First half of brooding film is droit du seigneur, the right of the lord, and those powerless to oppose.
Second half, however, is the bakeneko, the shape-shifting cat, exacting revenge.
Dark film, spliced with ferocious swordplay, featuring imaginative photography.

Kappa Kappa Die - 2020 - 4/10

New pledges to the luckless sorority endure the hazing.
Cleaning, humiliated, and a few creepy boyfriends of senior sisters.
Since a string of girls have died beforehand, one wonders what the allure is.
For a horror / comedy this is awfully talky.
Jokes fall flat, sight gags fare only slightly better.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3370111

We’re Still Here - 2024 - 6/10

“We” being the New Jersey surf shops, surfers, and community.
Summers, the Jersey boardwalk is overrun with turistas and entitled vacationers.
Winter time, though, amidst snow flurries and 30° waters, the surfers ride the waves.
Loving doc of the regional scene, as well as a poignant back look at the era of magazines and mom and pop shops.
Online “stores” and corporations have made inroads into the once insular community.
This is mostly interviews. Those seeking surf porn should go elsewhere.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3370110

Spider-Man Noir is a fantastic first season! Definitely another great performance by Nicholas Cage!

Fear Has 1000 Eyes - 1970 - 6/10
AKA - Skräcken har 1000 ögon // Sensuous Sorceress

Expecting her first child, Anna is broody, suffers nightmares, sees “things”.
A companion, Hedvig, is hired, who is uncannily attuned to Anna.
The two bond, yet while Anna slips into lethargy, Hedvig goes to work.
Hedvig is a witch, motivations unknown, who practices effigy magic and sexual predation.
Like most men, the husband is clueless, even as Hedvig rides him at night.
Excellent cinematography, deft sense of place, unhindered nudity.
Be prepared for a strolling pace, however.

Mrs. Bradley Mysteries - 1998 - 6/10

Good adaptations of Gladys Mitchell’s female sleuth (60+ novels).
By some genius of casting Diana Rigg plays the formidable, aristocratic author.
Neil (Midsomer) Dudgeon her chauffeur, hands-on man.
Late 1920’s, Flapper era, costumes, cars, music, attitudes, all faithful.
Bradley resembles a mature Phryne Fisher, less flirtatious, with more steel.
Cozy mysteries, well done and enjoyable.
Much as I prefer short series, at only five installments I wish this had run longer.

The Devil’s Cabaret - 1930 - 6/10

“Nevertheless, this business of going to Heaven has got to stop!”
So declares Mr. Satan (wonderfully-cast Charles Middleton), owner operator of Hades.
The Devil’s Cabaret is established to tempt the weak and willing.

Females in the crowd quickly start dancing provocatively, and removing clothes!
Swinging, drinking, chasing skin, wayward souls pack the joint.
Bizarre short from MGM, of all studios.

Unknown - 2026 - 7/10

Writer Elliot suffers a dry patch, not the block, inspiration is just at low ebb.
A retreat to the countryside alerts him to a follower.
Follower, how trendy, make that stalker.
Joey, a rejected actor from Texas, who has been unstable and institutionalized.
At least, according to his twin brother, Jack.
Lo, the slippery slope of lies, false assumptions, and an overactive imagination.
One-man play with Sean Hayes is good psychological thriller.
English subtitles = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3370112

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - 2009 - 7/10
AKA - Män som Hatar Kvinnor

Computer hacker Salander is hired to investigate a journalist (nice touch).
The reporter is of the exposé school, while Salander carries a history of abuse.
Methodical thriller is slow boil with shocking sexual violence.
Long, but gripping throughout. Made Noomi Rapace an A-lister for a spell.
Followed by two sequels and an Americanized version; none interested me.