Late April to Early May 2020 FILMS (27) AND BOOKS (2) Discussion Catch up





DESPERADO

Action and fun characters, this film has memorable shootouts and is simply one of Rodriguez's best works.



DON'T LOOK NOW

"Don't Look Now" is a cool 70's horror film with some incredible visuals.  Themes of pain, sadness and family.  Trauma haunts our characters in interesting and scary ways.



DRESSED TO KILL

De Palma is determined to create his own way using Hitchcock techniques in a modern context as he did in "Body Double," "Blow Out" and others.  This film is a masterclass in suspense storytelling in itself and an homage to one of the best suspense filmmakers ever.



EXTRACTION

A great film with a weak ending shot.  The thrills here are straight forward and exciting.  The film centers around the "buddy film" formula relationship of a young man and a mercenary.  This is a fun Saturday night action film loaded with great action.



FROM BEYOND

Sex and HP Lovecraft have never been so aggressively blended together!  

This film reaches for the great beyond but comes up a bit short in the department of characters and plot.  This is though...as sexy as Lovecraft can get without becoming a porno and that is something you probably need to behold...



HIGH SEAS SEASONS 1 AND 2

Atmosphere and characters are in full force here in this Spanish soap opera on water!  This is an excellent series with too little to do over its entire episode count, rinse and repeat feelings occur after its two seasons end.




KNIFE IN THE WATER

An interesting experiment that feels a bit like "L'Avventura" (1960) by Michelangelo Antonioni.  This film was made in 1962.




THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN

A fun ride and a decent plot.  I like the film quite a bit outside of some of the corny Hulk monster fights at the end.



LEGEND

TOM HARDY is all you can say after watching "Legend!" Possibly one of the greatest achievements an actor can have is playing the two lead roles in a film perfectly.  They feel like to different people.  This film needs more attention.



THE CORE

A great character study in a film that might possibly...no actually DOES beat "Deep Impact" in everything a sci-fi thriller can be.



LETHAL WEAPON

A fun cop "buddy" film with great characters.



MACHETE

Not my taste but a couple of very funny and entertaining moments.




PAN

Actually a very surprisingly solid adventure film with style, story, character and a great ACT 1 and ACT 2.  Not a great final encounter but pulls together in the last scene.



PATRIOT GAMES

A solid but SLOW thriller with a lot of talking and more.  

This is a great film for those who do not expect guns to be firing throughout its long run time.



PEAKY BLINDERS SEASONS 1-5

Excellent characters, pacing, stories, acting and atmosphere.  

This is what you need in a TV series, watch it.



PET SEMETARY

SLOW and boring unfortunately.  The film seems to wander around for a very long time and then end without scaring or entertaining.



SIN CITY

This is an achievement worth noting, "Sin City" is different and cool/sexy.  It is worth a watch to anyone.



PLANET TERROR

Not my cup of tea but I love Robert Rodriguez, does that count?




SCHITTS CREEK SEASONS 1-6

This show is one of the most enjoyable experiences I have EVER had watching a TV show, I mean it.  The entire cast brings their a-game and every episode is worth you time.  Possibly one of the greatest situation comedies ever created.




ROMANCING THE STONE

A fun adventure film full of great moments and solid laughs.



THE LIGHTHOUSE

I do not like when trailers sell films as genre films that they are not!  I believe this film was hurt by the horror/thriller wrapping it was served in.  The acting, cinematography, dialogue was excellent but it is long and isolating intentionally.  I think the film has great strengths but it is not something I find to be my thing.




THE RECRUIT

A very cool lead up and story that may twist a little too much to be viable by the end.  I love these two actors.



THE KITCHEN

A stronger film then it may seem at first "The Kitchen" is good but it has a major flaw which is that its moral lesson seems to be completely and utterly insane!  Its message appears to be its okay to break the law and be a criminal as long as you are "doing you, doing your thing."  

I am amazed this is virtually the purpose of one of the scenes at the end in a church.  Its great when characters challenge us but it is strange when the moral center of the film suddenly says "it's cool, just do you boss," it is startling.  I was wondering what would have happened if this was the moral lesson of other mob films?  Would the best examples be celebrated as much as they are?   Should we encourage evil characters to slaughter and dominate because they have kids?



A very interesting doc style film that appears to have inspired many slasher moments in films after it, would not surprise me if David Fincher saw this film before he shot some of "Zodiac's" more violent attack scenes.



A cool film with a sort of care-free vibe that was typical of the time it was made in.




An amazing cast and an interesting director lead this film to some great atmosphere and moments.



I think this was an interesting plot that led to an amazing ending scene.



Wow.  This is an incredible achievement in storytelling...a real situation told in a fairly balanced way.  The acting here is stellar.



Like the "Hellraiser" of Wes Craven's body of work, I was not a fan of this film but it has incredible special effects makeup.



This is a hell of book because it is not what you probably think it is...in fact it is one of the most challenging books you can read.  "Ulysses" takes the plot line of "The Odyssey" and fits it into the framework of the everyday life of an unpopular and seemingly inadequate man.  What becomes most interesting is the juxtaposition of one of the greatest epics ever written agains our own lives.  Are we like Leopold Bloom?  Do we struggle with all the same issues?  Bloom's story is just as valuable and interesting as Odysseus' because it challenges us to consider his obstacles and how we can overcome them in our own lives, which is the same purpose of "The Odyssey," a model for life's struggles. 



Fun film with a great lead actress.  The film actually manages to both be good survival horror though not scary and funny.


Reading Sam Shepard has a great impact especially reading "True West" and "Curse of the Starving Class."  This impact on me is meaningful simple dialogue, Shepard is able to make the sort of "every man" speak volumes of truth with ease and grace I've not read much of before.  "Buried Child" is an interesting idea and I am sure is quite effective on the stage.