Tag: film

Monday Morning Movie Review: Boys from County Hell (2020)

The Portly Politico41 Comments

Today is my birthday.  I’m thirty-seven today, and am on the downward slide towards forty.

But even on my birthday, I must deliver the goods.  Since it’s Monday, that means a movie review, and this flick is really quite fun.

The film is Boys from County Hell (2020), a comedic vampire movie that takes place in rural Ireland.  My family and I had the opportunity to visit Ireland in 2006, and the film’s setting really reminded me of that trip.

The premise is straightforward:  in the small, dying town of Six Mile Hill, there is a stone cairn in the middle of a farmer’s field.  The cairn is said to be the grave of Abhartach, an ancient Irish vampire who is said to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The cairn—indeed, the entire town—is threatened by a proposed new bypass.  The bypass will route so much traffic away from the town, it will kill the struggling local economy.  Naturally, the construction will also move directly through the cairn.

You can probably see where this is going.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: The Skin of the Wolf (Bajo la piel de lobo, 2018)

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Christmas Break starts today, and I spent the opening weekend visiting my girlfriend in Athens, Georgia.  We spent a lot of time on the couch; naturally, we got in some movies.

One of them really stuck with me:  the 2018 Spanish film The Skin of the Wolf, or Bajo la piel de lobo.  It is a Spanish language film, but there is very little dialogue, so there are not many subtitles to read.  Indeed, much of the storytelling is visual, and the story is, in part, about the perils of not communicating.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Switchblade Sisters (1975)

The Portly Politico10 Comments

I believe I am developing a reputation on this blog for reviewing some really bad movies, or at least lots of B movies.  I don’t resent that reputation; indeed, I embrace it.

Seriously, while playing Ozzy Osbourne’s “Bark at the Moon” at a Christmas gig Friday night (later in the evening John and I started having fun pulling out some incongruously non-Christmas tunes; I also covered “There’s a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place),” and he played John Denver’s “Calypso“), I caught myself thinking, “I really want to go home and watch a movie about a werewolf at Christmastime.”

I did not do that—I ended up watching Hell’s Kitchen (the television series) with my girlfriend while playing Civilization Revolution on the couch.  But that random little thought should give some insight into my attitude towards B movies:  I love ’em.  The wackier the concept, the better!

That said, today’s movie, 1975’s Switchblade Sisters, is not one I will recommend for anyone but the schlockiest lovers of schlock.  This film is the textbook definition of an exploitation film, as I gather it’s basically an excuse to portray teenage girls as alluringly violent criminals.

What I found compelling about that film, however, was that the world it portrayed—one in which a gang of girls takes on the established male gangs of a crumbling city—is so sad for the urban blight and desperation depicted.  There’s also a fascinating series of gang power struggles that raises the film slightly above its exploitative tone, as newcomer Maggie eventually takes control of the gang, changing their name from the “Dagger Debs” to “The Jezebels.”

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Lazy Sunday CXLIII: More Movies, Part XIII: Movie Reviews, Part XIII

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I’m finally coming up for air after two very long weeks of week.  The multiple belated posts of the last week, including today’s, is indicative of the pace at which I’ve been working.

But no one wants to read (more!) about that.  In the spirit of laziness and yuletide exhaustion, I’m offering up another three-film retrospective, as I continue marching through past editions of Monday Morning Movie Reviews:

  • “Monday Morning Movie Review: Viy (1967)” – It’s a Soviet horror film from the 1960s.  That should be enough justification to watch it.
  • “Monday Morning Movie Review: The Stuff (1985)” – 1985’s The Stuff is one of those movies that looks like it was filmed in the 1970s, but it takes place firmly in the 1980s.  In that context, the satire of cultish consumerism and materialism run amok is pretty on the nose.  Still, it’s a good film, combining elements of consumer protection advocacy, mass media advertising, consumerism, ruthless business tactics, and addiction into a blob of creamy terror.
  • “Monday Morning Movie Review: Star Wars (1977)” – Reviewing the original 1977 Star Wars is a bit ridiculous—what do I have to say that others have not already said, and better?—but I had the opportunity to watch it outdoors in a neighbor’s driveway on a big inflatable screen.  Pretty awesome, eh?

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Monday Morning Movie Review: The Advent Calendar (2021)

The Portly Politico10 Comments

There’s a new Shudder exclusive just in time for Christmas:  2021’s The Advent Calendar, a Belgian production entirely in French (but with English subtitles).  The film stars the improbably lovely Eugénie Derouand as Eva, a paraplegic who—before a terrible automobile accident—was a gifted dancer.

A lot of the recent Shudder exclusives have been rather ho-hum.  I viewed one recently—I can’t even remember it’s name now!—that was essentially post-horror:  it was only atmospherically creepy, but nothing else about the film provoked scares.  Sometimes a horror movie is “scary” in the sense that it poses difficult questions (the way good science-fiction does), or presents some intriguing moral dilemma—or just depicts the terrifying consequences of a society pursuing a certain path.  That film didn’t even fit that criteria.

But The Advent Calendar does.  It’s not a particularly frightening film, but it presents a classic dilemma:  given the ability to improve your life dramatically at an extremely high cost—including sacrificing lives to achieve your goal—do you take the opportunity?  It’s a bit like The Monkey’s Paw, as another, less favorable review notes:  your wish comes true, but with horrifying unintended consequences.

Despite nearly botching the dilemma—more on that below—the film is compelling, and a fun watch (even if you’re reading subtitles the entire time).

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Lazy Sunday CXLII: More Movies, Part XII: Movie Reviews, Part XII

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It was a grueling week for yours portly, and the weekend hasn’t been much easier.  There won’t be much resting this Sabbath; in addition to catching up on this quite belated post, I have quite a bit of prep work for the school week ahead, which includes not just writing review guides for exams (which also need to be written), but also preparing for the school’s annual Christmas concert.  One major beef I have with the time-honored five-day workweek is that it leaves little precious time to attend to what needs getting done around the house (like fixing a clogged drain and hanging my Christmas lights), and this school year I feel like I am constantly grading and creating assessments.

But enough moaning.  Here are three more film reviews, all three from August of this year, when I was deep in the throes of my ongoing love affair with Shudder, the horror streaming service:

  • “Monday Morning Movie Review: The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018)” – I actually didn’t watch this one on Shudder.  Audre Myers of Nebraska Energy Observer asked me if I’d seen The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018), and encouraged me to write a review of it, so I did (I still have to write that review of 1999’s Bicentennial Man that she requested months ago—I’ll get to it eventually!).  The flick is nothing like what its exploitation-style name suggests (although the title character does kill both Hitler and the Bigfoot), but it’s still pretty good!
  • “Monday Morning Movie Review: Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988)” – Now this is the flick I thought 
  • The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot would be!  I loved this flick, which is about the title character, Sam Hell (Roddy Piper), infiltrating a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by frog people (thus, Hell Comes to Frogtown).  The world is completely ridiculous, but fun, with hot babe super scientists, villainous frog dictators, and a man whose virility is so legendary, women lick their chops at the sight of him.  It’s everything that made the 1980s great:  original storylines, comedic machismo, and pro wrestlers as actors.
  • “Monday Morning Movie Review: Jakob’s Wife (2021)” – In August Shudder released a new exclusive film, Jakob’s Wife (2021), a feminist-inflected vampire story starring 80s scream queen Barbara Crampton.  While the feminist themes were a bit heavy-handed at points, the film handled the subject matter with a surprising degree of nuance.  For one, the film suggested (perhaps unintentionally) that female empowerment unleashed is a destructive, parasitical force—like a vampire.  Regardless, Crampton’s portrayal of the titular wife is excellent, and the script makes us sympathize with her.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Monday Morning Movie Review: Bell, Book, and Candle (1958)

The Portly Politico17 Comments

Well, it’s finally here—my hotly anticipated review of 1958’s Bell, Book, and Candle, starring Jimmy Stewart as a bumbling New York City publisher and Kim Novak as a seductive witch.  Audre Myers sent me this film on DVD a couple of months ago, and after a weekend of woodland adventures and grading papers (including grading papers in the woods), I sat down to watch it.

I’m so glad Audre sent it my way.  It’s a very fun romantic comedy about a witch, Gillian “Gil” Holroyd (Novak), who casts a love spell on publisher Shep Henderson (Stewart).  Thus ensorcelled, Shep breaks off his engagement with the haughty Merle Kittridge (Janice Rule), becoming magically obsessed with Gil.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Wait Until Dark (1967)

The Portly Politico19 Comments

A quick note of apology to Audre Myers, one of my regular readers:  Audre mailed me a DVD of the film Bell, Book, and Candle (1958) at the beginning of October.  I have been waiting for opportunity to watch it with my girlfriend, then was going to review it.

Well, it turns out when you live four hours apart from each other, your weekends get filled up pretty quickly with fun activities and/or family obligations outside of the house—or catching up on a shared television series.  Poor BB&C has fallen by the wayside.

As such, I’ve yet to watch what appears to be a wonderful film, sent by a very wonderful friend.  I do apologize, Audrey, but I will make time this week to hook up the Blu-Ray player and watch the film solo.  Expect a detailed, lovingly handcrafted review in one week!

As I’ve noted many times before, Shudder has some of the best (and so-bad-it’s-the-best) content of any streaming service I’ve ever encountered.  Something I appreciate about the service is that they don’t just stick to slashers, but really take an expansive approach to “horror” as a genre.  They go out of their way to deliver some excellent classics that probably don’t show up anywhere else.

One such film—one that I would not strictly classify as a “horror” film, but which certainly deals with a horrific scenario—is 1967’s Wait Until Dark, starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman living with her photographer husband in a basement apartment in New York City.  Hepburn’s character, Susy Hendrix, has only been blind for a year or so, the result of a tragic accident, so she is still learning how to attend to everyday tasks without sight.

That said, she is fairly capable, and manages well enough, though the film clearly demonstrates that she is vulnerable due to her disability.  The stage is set for conflict when Susy and her husband come into the possession of an old-fashioned doll.  Unbeknownst to them, the doll is filled with heroine smuggled from Montreal, and a trio of crooks are intent on recovering the stash.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Halloween Kills (2021)

The Portly Politico7 Comments

Halloween has come and gone, and we’re now entering the season of thankfulness—and then Christmas!  But I figured I’d squeeze in one more movie review related to the holiday, as my girlfriend and I saw—perhaps, it’s better to say, “endured”—2021’s Halloween Kills.

Halloween Kills is the sequel to 2018’s Halloween, itself a sequel to 1978’s Halloween (here’s a handy chart of all twelve Halloween films, and a diagram showing the different continuities within the bloated series).  Like Halloween II (1981), which starts immediately following the events of the original, Halloween Kills takes place on the same night as the events of Halloween (2018).  Confused yet?

Well, none of that much matters, besides the characters repeatedly mentioning the Michael Myers murders “forty years ago.”  Really, most of the movie is a sad attempt at making a statement about a mob mentality, itself muddled by the fact that the mob—which keeps chanting, “Evil dies tonight!”—is actually right about the necessity to annihilate Michael Myers once and for all.

Needless to say, it’s not a very good movie.  The 2018 Halloween was a great follow-up to the original (even taking into account that horror movie sequels are almost never good, or justified), and explored the theme of complacency in the face of a real existential threat.  Lori Strode’s character correctly understand that there is evil in the world, and Michael Myers is the relentless embodiment of it.  She therefore wisely takes major precautions to protect herself against the inevitable return of the man in the mask.

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Dracula (1931)

The Portly Politico43 Comments

My local library has been screening the classic Universal Monster Movies every Saturday night this month, which is just about the greatest thing any library has ever done (besides, you know, storing all of that knowledge).  They kicked off the month with 1941’s The Wolf Man, but I think they saved the best for last—1931’s Dracula (this weekend they’re showing a non-Universal Monster flick).

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