Get Shorty

Year of Release:  1995
Director:  Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenplay:  Scott Frank, based on the novel Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
Starring:  John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito,
Running Time:  105 minutes
Genre:  Comedy, thriller

Chili Palmer (Travolta), a Miami loan shark, heads to Los Angeles to collect a debt for the Mob.  Stopping off in Las Vegas, Chili picks up a second job to collect a gambling debt from B-movie producer Harry Zimm (Hackman), and meets cynical "scream queen" actress Karen Flores (Russo).  A rabid movie fan, Chili decides to try his hand at film production.  However, the Miami Mob want the money that Chili was sent to collect, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers are after a large amount of money that Zimm owes them.

This light comedy-thriller was the first film that John Travolta made after he made his Hollywood comeback with Pulp Fiction (1994), and Quentin Tarantino's influence is all over this film with the stylish, cool (if at best morally ambiguous) characters, and profane, fast-talking dialogue, laden with movie references, and occasional flashes of violence.  In fact Tarantino would make his own Elmore Leonard adaptation with Jackie Brown (1998).  This is one of those movies were everyone involved seems to be having a great time, and Travolta coasts along with effortless charisma, and he is supported by a great cast, which also includes Danny DeVito as a major Hollywood star (the "Shorty" of the title), who Palmer and Zimm want for the movie they are putting together.
This is a hugely enjoyable film with a satisfying plot and clever, funny script which manages to poke fun at and celebrate Hollywood gangster movies,
A sequel, Be Cool, was released in 2005 and the original novel was adapted as a TV series.

John Travolta and Rene Russo in Get Shorty

   

Play Misty for Me

Year of Release:  1971
Director:  Clint Eastwood
Screenplay:  Jo Heims and Dean Riesner, from a story by Jo Heims
Starring:  Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch
Running Time:  102 minutes
Genre:  Thriller

In the picturesque Californian city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Dave Garver (Eastwood) is a late night radio DJ .  One night in a bar, Dave meets Evelyn Draper (Walter), a fan of his radio show, who calls up every night requesting the jazz standard "Misty".  Dave and Evelyn have a one night stand, but Evelyn soon reveals herself to be an obsessive stalker.  Dave, who is in the process of reuniting with his ex-girlfriend, Tobie (Mills), repeatedly rejects Evelyn, who becomes increasingly violent and dangerous.

This chilling psychological thriller marked Clint Eastwood's debut as a director.  Looked at today, the film has dated, but by and large it holds up.  Although largely written as a deranged obsessive, Jessica Walter gives her portrayal of Evelyn some real depth, playing her as a confused, vulnerable and hurt woman, crucially she is always a sympathetic, if terrifying, character, and there is real chemistry in her scenes with Eastwood.  There is an interesting dynamic in that, while we never really fear for Garver, as he visibly struggles to contain his temper, we worry what he may do to Evelyn.  Throughout much of the film Garver doesn't really take Evelyn all that seriously or seem particularly concerned about the real threat she represents to him.  Mostly he treats her as a nuisance.  Directed largely in a straightforward, unflashy style, the film allows the tension to build up effectively, and at times it looks like a quasi-documentary, particularly the scene at the Monterey Jazz Festival.  One sequence which really feels out of place though, is the love scene between Garver and Tobie, where lyrical shots of nature and this beautiful verdant forest culminates in the two of them having sex in a isolated natural pool, all to the strains of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack, and ends up looking a bit like the cover of a paperback romance novel. 
Veteran director Don Siegel, who made several films with Eastwood and was one of the biggest influences on his filmmaking style, has a small role as a bartender.

Jessica Walter and Clint Eastwood in Play Misty for Me   

Midsommar

Year of Release:  2019
Director:  Ari Aster
Screenplay:  Ari Aster
Starring:  Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Will Poulter
Running Time:  147 minutes
Genre:  Folk horror

New York City:  Student Dani Arbor (Pugh) is deeply traumatised after her sister kills herself and their parents.  Her trauma puts a further strain on her already collapsing relationship with boyfriend Christian (Reynor).  Christian and his friends, Mark (Poulter) and Josh (Harper), are planning a month long trip to Sweden with their Swedish friend Pelle (Blomgren) during which they plan attend a nine-day midsummer festival that is only held every ninety years at Pelle's ancestral commune.  When Dani learns about the trip, Christian awkwardly invites her along.  When they arrive, the locals seem welcoming and friendly, but as the festivities progress, the rituals and ceremonies become increasingly bizarre and disturbing, and the tourists soon discover the commune's terrifying dark side.

Writer and director Ari Aster made a splash in 2018 with his debut film Hereditary.  This is a different style of film.  It belongs to a sub-genre of horror known as folk horror, which is mostly set in isolated rural locations and based around folk traditions and beliefs.  Here is horror set entirely in beautiful sunlit locations and, unusually for a horror film,  it almost all takes place in broad daylight.  The story unfolds at a languid pace, but has an ever present disturbing atmosphere that increases as it goes on.  It uses a lot of subtle tricks with sound and visuals making it a hallucinatory and often nightmarish experience.  Florence Pugh is wonderful in the lead, the other characters don't really have much to do except react to what happens to them, but there are some well-drawn tensions between the others in the group (Mark is extremely gauche and insensitive, Josh believes that Christian wants to copy his thesis and Pelle is in love with Dani).  There is also a surprising amount of humour, it is a very funny film.  Watching it, I felt constantly off balance and disoriented as it moves from domestic drama to poetic beauty, to crude humour, to disturbing surrealism to flashes of quite shocking gore.  I thought this film was really something special. 

Florence Pugh in Midsommar     

Annabelle Comes Home

Year of Release:  2019
Director:  Gary Dauberman
Screenplay:  Gary Dauberman, from a story by James Wan and Gary Dauberman
Starring:  Mckenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson
Running Time:  106 minutes
Genre:  Horror

The cursed doll, Annabelle, introduced in The Conjuring (2013), has already featured in Annabelle (2014) and Annabelle: Creation (2017).  In 1968, occultists and demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Wilson and Farmiga) seal the evil doll in a cabinet made of sacred glass, where her evil is contained.  Four years later, the Warrens leave on an overnight case, leaving their young daughter Judy (Grace) in the care of babysitter Mary Ellen (Iseman).  Itrigued by the stories surrounding the Warrens, Mary Ellen's best friend, Daniela (Sarife), invites herself over and sneaks into the locked room which houses the Warren's collection of haunted and cursed artifacts.  Despite warnings not to touch anything, Daniela handles just about everything in the room and, worse of all, opens Annabelle's cabinet, allowing her to escape.  Soon Daniela, Judy and Mary Ellen are subjected to attacks from Annabelle, and the other evil forces that Daniela has accidentally released.

This is like a rollercoaster ride.  It runs along it's fairly predictable tracks, there are plenty of jump scares and a few shocks, but it never gets too disturbing.  There is almost a feeling of "My First Horror Film" about it, because it's not really scary, and it is fairly predictable for anyone even a little familiar with horror movies.   The cast are engaging and likable.  The most familiar faces in the cast are Patrick Wilson and Vera Famiga reprising their roles as controversial real-life occultists Ed and Lorraine Warren from The Conjuring films, and once again the Warrens are depicted as the most wonderful people on Earth, which is extremely debatable.  It's in no way essential, even for fans of the series, but for a Saturday night spook show it's fun.

Daniela (Katie Sarife) comes face to face with demon doll Annabelle in Annabelle Comes Home         

The Player

Year of Release:  1992
Director:  Robert Altman
Screenplay:  Michael Tolkin, based on the novel The Player by Michael Tolkin
Starring:  Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Gallagher, Brion James, Cynthia Stevenson
Running Time: 124 minutes
Genre:  Black comedy, satire, thriller

Griffin Mill (Robbins) is an executive at a Hollywood studio.  His job is to listen to submissions from writers and decide whether or not they would make good films.  By his own estimation he says "yes" to 12 out of 50,000 submissions a year.  As you might expect, he has more than a few enemies among screenwriters.  Mill starts to receive threatening postcards from a writer whose pitch he rejected.  To make matters worse, his job is threatened by an ambitious new executive at the studio.

The Player marked something of a comeback for maverick Hollywood director Robert Altman who became known in the 1970s for such iconic films as MASH (1970), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) and Nashville (1975).  The Player features several Altman trademarks, most notably the large cast, complex, overlapping dialogue, and mobile camera work, particularly in the film's famous opening scene: a seven and a half minute unbroken shot roving through a studio lot, eavesdropping on pitches and conversations.
The movie manages to be both affectionate and acidic towards Hollywood. Some of the satire is quite scathing, but there is a real love for movies that shines through.  There are numerous references to other films, with the camera frequently lingering on movie posters or photos of stars and directors that somehow comment on the events in the story.  It also has numerous celebrity cameos (including Bruce Willis, Jeff Goldblum, Anjelica Huston, Jack Lemmon, Julia Roberts, Harry Belafonte and John Cusack).
The film flows along with it's main plot being subsumed among various digressions, twists and subplots.  The jokes are genuinely funny, for the most plot, and the thriller element is quite intriguing.  At the end the film subverts the traditional "Hollywood ending" managing to be both happy and surprisingly bleak.
Tim Robbins is good in the lead managing to be both charismatic and suave as well as shockingly cruel and ruthless without ever being entirely unsympathetic.  Whoopi Goldberg stands out as a tenacious detective, as does country singer Lyle Lovett as a creepy cop.  Richard E. Grant also makes the most of a small role as a flamboyant, pretentious director.

Tim Robbins is The Player       

City of the Living Dead

Year of Release:  1980
Director:  Lucio Fulci
Screenplay:  Lucio Fulci and Dardano Sacchetti
Starring:  Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Giovanni Lombardo, Radice, Daniela Doria, Fabrizio Jovine, Janet Algren
Running Time:  93 minutes
Genre:  Horror

New York City:  A young medium, Mary Woodhouse (MacColl), goes into a catatonic sate when she experiences a traumatic vision of a priest (Jovine) hanging himself in the town of Dunwich.  When she has recovered, she explains to journalist Peter Bell (George)  that the hanging of the priest has opened the gate to Hell and that, unless it is closed, in a few days time the living dead will overwhelm and consume the living.  Meanwhile in Dunwich the population find themselves subjected to a series of horrific events, as they come under attack from flesh-eating zombies.

Prolific Italian director Lucio Fulci worked in comedy, adventure, science-fiction, erotica and spaghetti Westerns, but is most well known for his horror films, which were notorious for their high level of gore, which earned him the nickname "The Godfather of Gore".  This is the first of Fulci's "Gates of Hell" trilogy, the others being:  The Beyond (1981) and The House by the Cemetery (1981), both of which also starred English actress Catriona MacColl (billed here as "Katherine MacColl"), although in different roles in each film.  At times this feels like what you might get if a twelve year old were to come up with a horror film, because the plot (such as it is) feels like an excuse to string together the most gruesome things Fulci can think of:  people bleed out of their eyes, zombies chow down messily on slippery flesh, heads are drilled, other unfortunates are covered with rats and flesh-eating maggots and, in the film's most notorious sequence, a woman vomits up her own intestines.  Even for hardened horror fans it's pretty nauseating.  Although it's so over the top it becomes quite funny.  The acting is at best serviceable, which may be partly due to the fact that, as was standard with Italian films, the dialogue was dubbed in in post-production.  The bizarre and sudden ending was necessitated because, while they were editing the film, someone spilled coffee on the original ending print, forcing Fulci to cobble something together with whatever he had available.

Daniela Doria in City of the Living Dead


          

Videodrome

Year of Release:  1983
Director:  David Cronenberg
Screenplay:  David Cronenberg
Starring:  James Woods, Sonja Smits, Deborah Harry, Peter Dvorsky, Les Carlson, Jack Creley, Lynne Gorman
Running Time:  89 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, horror   

Max Renn (Woods) is the president of a small cable TV network in Toronto which specialises in soft-core porn and gratuitous violence.  Unhappy with the current line-up, Renn is looking for something that will "break through".  He thinks that he has found it when he stumbles upon a broadcast called Videodrome, which depicts relentless torture and murder.  Renn becomes increasingly obsessed with Videodrome, and finds himself undergoing bizarre physical changes.

This is one of the definitive works of director David Cronenberg, and a classic of what has become known as  "body horror".  The film began life as a script called "Network of Blood" which Cronenberg wrote inspired by his childhood memories of watching TV late at night, when the Canadian stations went off air he would sometimes pick up faint broadcasts from the US, and the young Cronenberg worried that he might stumble across something dangerous or subversive.  The film initially begins as a conspiracy thriller before becoming a surrealistic nightmare.  James Woods turns in a powerful performance as the shifty, nervy Max Renn, and pop singer Deborah Harry is impressive as radio host Nikki Brand (who lives up to her name with her taste for burning her own breasts with cigarettes).  The film is full of memorable and disturbing images, such as the gaping mouth-like hole that opens in Renn's chest and functions as a VCR, and the handgun that fuses with Renn's hand. 
Looking at it today, while a lot of the technology seems inevitably dated, it's still remarkably prescient and ahead of it's time in it's depiction of a world where media manipulates and controls the minds and bodies of it's consumers.

James Woods and Deborah Harry take in Videodrome   

Communion

Year of Release: 1989
Director:  Philippe Mora
Screenplay:  Whitley Strieber, based on the book Communion by Whitley Strieber
Starring:  Christopher Walken, Lindsay Crouse, Frances Sternhagen, Terry Hanauer, Andreas Katsulas, Joel Carlson
Running Time:  105 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, horror

New York City, 1985:  Whitley Strieber (Walken) is a novelist living in Manhattan with his wife Anne (Crouse) and young son, Andrew (Carlson).  During a weekend away at their cabin in the woods, Strieber and Andrew experience a bizarre visitation.  Initially dismissing it as a bad dream, Strieber begins to experience bizarre recurring nightmares and displays increasingly irrational behaviour.

The film is based on Whitley Strieber's purportedly non-fiction 1987 bestseller describing his alleged abduction by aliens.  The book is probably best known now for it's front cover which is regarded as one of the most iconic images of the popular "Grey" aliens. Whether you believe that Strieber was really abducted by aliens, or that he was hallucinating, or that he just made the whole thing up, this film will not change your mind.  The film has some striking images, even if the special effects range from the serviceable to the pretty dire.  As Strieber, Walken acts as if he's alternatively in a domestic drama and a manic comedy (apparently, the real Whitley Strieber was very unhappy with Walken's portrayal of him), when he's writing he wears a hat and films himself doing animal impressions.  Another problem with casting Walken is that he is so intense he kind of unbalances the film, and is far scarier just being normal than any aliens.  Lindsay Crouse does well at trying to keep the nonsense grounded.  It's a frustrating film that is mostly pretty bad, but has some good moments.  It plays it's hand to early by showing the aliens too early, and is too ambitious for it's own good.  There are no explanations as to what the aliens want.  It's become something of a cult movie, which must be partly due to the scene where Christopher Walken does a dance with little blue aliens.
The movie Fire in the Sky (1993) is a better film that covers similar ground, as indeed do many episodes of The X-Files (1993-2002, 2016-2018).

Christopher Walken in Communion