Caught Stealing

The trailer was definitely leaning towards lighter fare.

Now admittedly, did I go see this movie purely to see Matt Smith punked out from head to toe? Yes! Was I happy with the final film notwithstanding his presence? Oh absolutely! But maaaaan, this is some heavy shit. It has moments of comedy and enjoyment but it's a serious tale with very realistic serious consequences. Set in the great year of our lord nineteen hundred and ninety-eight we follow everyman Hank who upon being tasked with watching his punk neighbor's cat gets embroiled in a stolen money caper with several interested crime parties pretty much going at him non-stop to get it, leading to an array of chases, deaths, and making peace with the past in the process. Once again, Austin Butler our friggin' guy, has yet to miss! The entire movie is carried on this performance, great supporting cast though without question, but he plays it pitch perfect in my opinion! Hank is a very damaged man and you see great pain throughout and not just from the gruelling scars he accumulates, it really is gonna be one of those sleeper performances of the year in my estimation! Zoë Kravitz gets some time to shine and while admittedly I wish she got involved more in this dangerous situation she still did good work. Do I even have to talk about Matt? He's in the movie roughly as much as Zoë, but needless to say I was revelling in every minute of it and of course being the nerd I am it's funny how easily I see things like his stride or his little finger twiddling and just think yep that's Eleven, just with soooo much more swearing and aggression. He's a true punk, he's a cat person, he's a family man himself, pure 10/10! Oh yeah and we get to see a wee baybah the whole movie, ho ho ho ho he's a fluffy boy and I must pet him! You know me and cats, you don't fuck about with them in my presence unless you want to eat lead and...yeah they hurt the little one's paw so I was craving blood to the climax. Though I will admit the movie threw me for at least two loops, I caught one mere seconds before it was sprung, but yeah it's nice to be surprised at the movies from time to time considering the obelisk of media I've consumed. It's very solidly directed, the cast brings it all the way, the action though limited is more candidly shot truth be told with a wide enough angle to where you can see everything which I like, soundtrack was pretty good but I just wanted to hear more punk songs, it's got a very good pace and the time flies by, you do get invested and it keeps you invested till credits, so I can sure fire recommend this. 3 stars, 7.5/10, and that about does it for this month. What will next month entail? Who knows, not me, I make this up as I go along.

Island Of Lost Souls

Again, kinda feel like an ass for not seeing this sooner!

Originally produced by Paramount yet somehow finding it's way to the Universal Monsters Classic Collection in the 90s, Island Of Lost Souls is a damn good movie. Made slightly before the Hays code went into effect this is one of the most grotesque and disturbing horror films you can find from that era. Concerning a shipwrecked man named Edward who gets rather unceremoniously dumped on the island of Dr. Moreau and after quickly discovering the sadistic doctor's experiments on animals has to find his way out alive. But the madman has plans and aspirations of his own in a truly gross and unsettling test of his most prized experiment Lota to see if the change from beast to human can go...all the way, shall we say. I can't even express in words how easily this film can get under your skin, and the worst part is it doesn't take much provocation for your mind to start imagining such gruesome surgeries and to really peer into the mind of Dr. Moreau. Admittedly he's played to perfection by Charles Laughton who if you really pay attention to any of the actors, more specifically him and Kathleen Burke as Lota, they put so much into these roles through body language alone and it rewards your attention. He plays this sick, demented, totally unshakeable in his work scientist and to see him just study Lota with Edward in such a voyeuristic tendency, his utter dismay at the thought of his horrific experiemnts potentially not working, his chilling delivery of the line "Do you know what it means to feel like God?", just eeeuuugghh! He freaks me right the hell out! Fantastic performance and really an unsung great actor our Charles was. And like I said Kathleen Burke as Lota is lord where do I even start, she's undoubtedly a tragic character who's went through I don't even know what to become the woman she is and again a lot of the performance is in her body lamguage. I know people will get hung up on the more sexualized aspects of her feline nature and dress, but she comes off so sweet and curious and quite gentle. That scene where she views herself in a mirror and you can see the tears filling her eyes...that hits like a fucking BRICK, I will remember that for a very long time to come! And don't even get me started on Kathleen being typecasted and only ventured in the domain of filmmaking for about 6 years, she's acting her heart out here in her first movie role no less, and yeah I know the movie is gonna be 100 years old relatively soon but goddamn it I'm upset over that! They are easily the highlights of the entire picture and I can strongly recommend watching it just on the backs of them two though of course the rest of the cast does well. Richard Arlen is quite a strapping fella and conveys the horror and intelligemce when dealing with such a sociopath very well. And of course like everyone else I have to shoutout Bela Lugosi in this film, even despite it being a very minimal role it's still a memorable performance and visual, my almost lifelong stance as a fan not withstanding. It's a very visually similar film to The Most Dangerous Game, an island, a dense jungle, the fotress of the main antagonist, but it still works and the set design is rich. Another interesting note is the film score is dead silent, you hear music at the very beginning and end but no musical accompaniment which admittedly heightens the horror and uneasy tone. But yeah this is a standout movie that I know is considered more a minor classic, but I can strongly urge people to watch it. High recommendation, 4 stars, 8.5/10!

That was a fun little trip, I know I'll have to find more time to write reviews in the future cause it still is an enjoyable and gratifying experience. Definite new release next week so tune in for that and as always be safe!

The Most Dangerous Game

Out of the silent era and into good ol' RKO.

From the same producers of King Kong and shot on many of the same sets comes an adaptation of a short story, concerning a shipwrecked hunter who finds himself entangled in the sick game of a russian master of hunting and sport who is tasked with surviving for one night to obtain freedom off the island or become just another attraction in a trophy room. For a movie that barely clocks in at one hour it does a surprisingly good job not only taking enough time to set up the story, the villain, and the stakes but deliver on a nonstop 20 odd minute chase scene through the jungle that must have been exhilarating in 1932. I have no qualms saying Leslie Bank, in his first motion picture role I might add, is the reason and the highlight to watch this movie. The man doesn't even have to act he just looks so sinister, and yet can potray this charming and very affable host before the facade falls and you see just how commited he is to enacting this horrid game. Joel McCrea is a fine albeit basic leading man who has the know how to lay traps and use the terrain to his advantage, and it is interesting to watch more a clash of minds in the wilderness rather than brute strength. Fay Wray, icon that she is barely has to do a damn thing and yet still remains a highlight and it's wild to think she was filming King Kong the exact same damn time as this. Boy, movies are NOT made like that anymore. The sets are very well constructed, from the Count's fortress and grisly trophy room to the dense foliage and misty swamp of the jungle, for a lower budgeted movie it still looks quite nice. Now I know the concept of using humans as prey isn't entirely new to storytelling but it's a solid story, that somehow slipped into the realm of the public domain but you can easily find a good quality version even on Youtube and it is worth a watch for film fans or even people who want to see one of the early examples of a thriller and not a horror film. I love talking old black and white movies and to bring more attention to them, so this was a no brainer to review. A quite good movie but hopefully we end on an even higher note. 3 stars, 7/10, I'll be seeing you next time.

The Lost World (1925)

Welcome to the 100th anniversary of the first dinosaur movie.

I truly feel that The Lost World is one of the most important and monumental films ever created. Really break this down with me, we can view a film a century old and silent films are a rare breed considering the vast majority are lost, this is the film that showcased Willis O'Brien and his craft of stop motion effects that would inspire generations to come like Ray Harryhausen and Phil Tippet, you get to see how the world viewed dinosaurs 100 years before in terms of appearance and behavior that still has left an impact to this very day in cinema, and the author himself of the original story Sir Arthur Conan Doyle not only was able to see the film and enjoyed it but the filmmakers got the man himself to introduce the picture. That retinue alone should make this one of the greatest films ever made, and I'm happy to say that. Even as a lover of silent cinema this film intrigued me, shocked me, made me laugh, and get very emotionally invested throughout. Now I did a wee bit of research concerning the runtime and I found there's an hour version and a hundred minute version, I picked the latter which is not only available on the Youtubes but is showcased in high definition with the proper color tinting so that's the one I strongly recommend. The story involves a reporter who hears claims of an explorer who encountered the ancient terrible lizards in the Amazon, and joins the expedition not only for the story but also to aid a young lady to find her father. What follows is a high scale adventure evading ravenous dinosaurs, trekking through caves and jungle, and as old Hollywood is wont to do find romance in the process. Despite the reporter named Ed being the main focus I truly feel the real main character is the young girl Paula played by Bessie Stone. Nowwww am I slightly smitten by this little lady? Yes! But that is not coloring my perception of the film, she wants to find her father who got marooned there, she has a romance with Ed, she's easily the best damn character in the movie emotionally, this truly is her show. That and I was having several meltdowns over how frick fraking pretty she is, oh my God! I gotta move on. I quite liked the professor who originally stumbled across the dinosaur laden land played by Wallace Beery, he almost has this burly crazy haired look like he got abandoned on that lost world and his rageful outbursts against reporters just cracked me up. I actually really appreciate the different protagonists that make up this expedition, you got the everyman reporter, the sweet charming lady, the game hunter, the experienced leader of the party, and the more academic centered professor. All the characters work very nicely together and despite the obvious lack of sound have good chemistry on screen, and this is one of the few instances where I wish I could hear their voices. The scope of the production is nothing short of stellar, from the lavishly dressed buildings of civilization, to the dense foliage of the jungle, from the painted backdrops to the really real fire scorched landscapes this is a damn well made movie and we haven't even got to the dinosaurs yet! How the hell am I gonna talk about all lf this and not take an Age to put it all down? Holy moly guacamole these dinosaurs are the bee's knees! The design of their shape, the texture of their hides, the fact they fuggin' BREATHE, this is too amazing for words. I revelled in every second and wondered in awe how they even got some of these shots, this is a groundbreaking piece of cinema that truly had no equal for years, maybe even decades to come depending on who you ask. It's so timeless and yet classic, it was kinda scary at a certain point and my God this movie is gory as shit which really shocked me! Like it doesn't shy away from what carnivores do to herbivores, and most of the scientific information was spot on for 1925! Interesting choice to go for an Allosaurus instead of a vastly more popular Tyrannosaurus Rex, but the inclusion of Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Pterodactyl, and a Stegosaurus lends itself quite nicely to the variety. I feel the movie is entertaining enough to where you're not just waiting for the stopmotion creatures to appear, but man are they still a highlight all these years later! So damn influential, so damn amazing, I know 5 year old me would treasure this movie if I saw it back then. Really only negative I could throw at it is I'm pretty sure, like 109% sure, we have a heavily unfortunate case of blackface for one character and yeah I know it's the 1920s it ain't gonna perfectly congeal with 2025 ethics, but it still sucks. So that'll knock the final score down but this is still a truly great movie that I feel like a total ass for waiting three decades of life to finally watch it! 4 stars, 9/10, and we're jumping ahead to the sound era of the 30s next time!

Nobody 2

The dust has settled and I am back for a short while this month.

Speaking as a light fan of the first movie I was stunned to learn that a sequel was being made, hell to be embarassingly honest I've been so out of the loop on new movies coming out this hit my radar about 2 weeks before release. Don't get old kids. But I'm kinda speechless to say I enjoyed this movie far far more than the first, maybe it was the familiarity with the characters or the emphasis on the family unit but this hit all the right buttons for me from the word 'Go'. And it's not much more complicated than the first, Hutch has been working so much he's been neglecting the family so he decides to take them on a vacation where he gets embroiled in this crime boss' affairs, because of course he does, and now papa's gotta take care of business. The first thing I really gotta say is despite the lack of action, the real stranglehold grip this movie had on me was you get to spend a lot of time with Hutch's wife and kids and while indeed the element was there and was quite good in the first, I just gravitated to it so strongly here. Connie you fucking gem of a woman, I'm honestly jealous as shit she's married in this movie because I would kiss the ground that mama bear walks on, and I do appreciate they give Becca a bit more edge here. The kids are pretty good too with Gage Munroe as Brady taking on his dad's violent urges despite Hutch wanting him to be a better man than he ever was, and Paisley Cadorath as Sammy who is the sweetest most cutest girl ever and boy did my protective side leap out at a certain scene involving her. Like I fully understood the urge to just whip someone's ass if they laid a finger on my daughter, no scratch that I would spill someone's guts onto the floor if they touched my daughter so papa Hutch is a man after my own heart. And yeah Bob is probably on even better form here truth be told, both as a character and as an action man with plenty of time going to both, showcasing his hard edged fighting style but also his wish and happiness to give his kids memories to look back on. It's not overt, it's more subtle but that's why it works so damn good. In terms of action I can count every major setpiece on one hand but each is different and impactful, they still very much like using random bits of the environment during the fights in true Jackie Chan style which I actually feel is harder and more gratifying to write than if it was a straight up gun/fist fight but it was solid stuff! I very very much enjoyed this movie and while I felt the sheer idea of a sequel seemed tenative I was pleasantly surprised and wouldn't mind a potential third entry if all the planets align. I'm sure the first was more of a sleeper hit and I'm hopeful this one will do even better, it is worth seeing in theaters I can tell you that much. So full 4 stars from me, 8/10, and next week we're shifting gears big time going back not only to 3 reviews for the week but allllll the way back to the golden age of cinema with some movies I've always wanted to talk about.