Her Body (2023)

 

HER BODY  (2023)  ¢ ¢

    D: Natálie Cisarovská

    Natalia Germani, Denisa Baresová, Zuzana Mauréry,

    Martin Finger, Cyris Dobry, Zuzana Stivinová

A dramatized look at the short life of Czech diver Andrea Absolonová, whose career arc was altered radically when a spinal injury ended her athletic career and she switched to nude modeling and pornography. Neither vocation seems to have made her very happy, and Natália Germani, who plays her, spends most of the movie looking gloomy and bored. She's beautiful but not much fun. According to Wikipedia, Absolonová made more than 80 adult films before dying of brain cancer at 27 in 2004. 

Morgan (2016)

 

MORGAN  (2016)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Luke Scott

    Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones,

    Michelle Yeoh, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Jason Leigh,

    Boyd Holbrook, Rose Leslie, Michael Yare,

    Vinette Robinson, Chris Sullivan, Brian Cox

A no-nonsense corporate agent is dispatched to a remote research facility where a bio-engineering experiment has apparently gone awry. Her mission is to investigate and decide whether to continue the work or pull the plug. This triggers an ethical debate between the scientists, who could be motivated by something more than just science, and the agent, who might have an agenda of her own. It slips into slasher territory eventually, but even then, Anya Taylor-Joy and her unusual eyes are perfectly cast. 

The Astounding She-Monster (1957)

 

THE ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER  (1957)  ¢ ¢

    D: Ronald V. Ashcroft

    Robert Clarke, Kenne Duncan, Marilyn Harvey,

    Jeanne Tatum, Shirley Kilpatrick, Ewing Brown

A meteor from a distant planet crashes to earth, carrying a passenger: a woman who looks all blurry because she's supposed to be naked, but she's really wearing a shimmering, radioactive bodysuit. Anyway, she's astounding. Drive-ins would not have existed without movies like this. And vice versa.

Trick or Treat

Hangmen Also Die! (1943)

 

HANGMEN ALSO DIE!  (1943)  ¢ ¢

    D: Fritz Lang

    Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee,

    Gene Lockhart, Dennis O'Keefe, Margaret Wycherly,

    Alexander Granach, Tonio Selwart, Lionel Stander

A World War Two propaganda piece in which heroic Czechs stand up to evil Nazis in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on despised German commander Reinhard Heydrich. There's some epic scenery-chewing in this. If the actors playing the Nazis had handlebar moustaches to twirl, they'd be twirling them. Walter Brennan sheds most of his backwoods persona to play a resistance leader. Brian Donevy plays the assassin. Bertolt Brecht worked on the script. 

I Really Hate My Job (2007)

 

I REALLY HATE MY JOB  (2007)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Oliver Parker

    Neve Campbell, Shirley Henderson, Danny Huston,

    Alexandra Maria Lara, Anna Maxwell Martin 

Five women, all with unrealized hopes and ambitions, try to make it through a hectic shift at work in a London restaurant. A funny, fast-paced comedy with some distinct parallels to Stanley Tucci's "Big Night". Neve Campbell as a burned-out waitress (and aspiring actress) gets a brief nude scene, but it's Shirley Henderson as the overworked cook (and would-be writer) who stands out in the ensemble.

Marie Antoinette (2006)

 

MARIE ANTOINETTE  (2006)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Sofia Coppola

    Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn,

    Steve Coogan, Judy Davis, Asia Argento,

    Shirley Henderson, Molly Shannon, Marianne Faithfull,

    Danny Huston, Rose Byrne, Aurore Clément

In 1770, a 14-year-old Austrian countess named Maria Antonia Josefa Johana is sent off to fulfill her dynastic destiny in an arranged marriage to the future king of France. Once there, she'll become much better known as Marie Antoinette. We all know how that turned out, but before it does, there are masked balls and splendid feasts and elegance and opulence and decadence in magnificent surroundings. (The movie was actually filmed at Versailles.) Sofia Coppola's script tries to make the case that Marie Antoinette was a victim of history, which you might buy into if you can get beyond the fact that she seems unwilling, unable, or just too oblivious to look outside the privileged bubble she was born into. But you don't have to be a socialist to see the yawning divide between the pampered nobles and the miserable masses, or to conclude that if any place ever was in the market for a revolution, it was 18th-century France. In fact, you don't see much of the revolution, but you do see a lot of powdered wigs, and as sumptuous as everything looks, it's all just kind of boring. (Remember "Barry Lyndon"? Same thing.) On the other hand, most movies set in the 18th century don't feature tunes by The Cure, Adam and the Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bow Wow Wow. "I Want Candy"? Sure, why not?

Last Call: Tom Skerritt

 

"M*A*S*H"

"Alien"

"Contact"

"Steel Magnolias"

"A River Runs Through It"

"East of the Mountains"

"The Turning Point"

"Smoke Signals"

"Top Gun"

"Thieves Like Us"

(1933-2026)