You the Living (2007)

 

YOU THE LIVING  (2007)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Roy Andersson

    Elisabet Helander, Jörgen Norhall, Björn Englund,

    Jessika Lundberg, Eric Bäckman, Pär Fredriksson

Fifty-odd little deadpan vignettes, some vaguely connected and some not so much. Some are amusing. Some are surreal. A lot of them feature a tuba, for some reason. It's like where Wes Anderson, Jacques Tati, Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki all meet up. Favorite bit: An old man pushing a walker along the sidewalk and dragging a distinctly unhappy dog on a leash behind him. I'm not sure why that struck me as funny, but it did. Made in Sweden.

Tusk (2014)

 

TUSK  (2014)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Kevin Smith

    Justin Long, Michael Parks, Genesis Rodriguez,

    Haley Joel Osment, Guy Lapointe, Harley Morgenstern,

    Ralph Garman, Harley Quinn Smith, Lily Rose Depp

Kevin Smith goes for maximum weirdness with this crazed horror movie about a reclusive nutcase who turns an obnoxious podcaster into a walrus. How he does that has drawn comparisons to "The Human Centipede", so you get the idea. The clerks from "Yoga Hosers" make a cameo appearance, and if the guy chewing the scenery as Guy Lapointe seems familiar, he's Johnny Depp.

Quote File / Take 26

 

Some lines from the movies of Gene Hackman:

"I don't deserve this . . . to die like this. I was 

  bulding a house."

  Hackman in "Unforgiven"

"Hit first if you can. And when you do hit, hit 

  to kill."

  Hackman in "Wyatt Earp"

"I hate Baptists almost as much as I hate 

  Democrats."

  Hackman in "Runaway Jury"

"I don't care what they're talking about. All I want 

  is a nice, fat recording."

  Hackman in "The Conversation"

"Wait! Where are you going? I was going to make

  espresso!"

  Hackman in "Young Frankenstein"

(1930-2025)

That Championship Season (1982)

THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON  (1982)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Jason Miller 

    Bruce Dern, Stacy Keach, Robert Mitchum, 

    Martin Sheen, Paul Sorvino, Arthur Franz

Four of the five starters and the coach from the team that won the 1958 Pennsylvania state high-school basketball title get together years later to relive old times and open up new wounds. Jason Miller's film adaptation of his award-winning play is like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" for aging jocks. The resolution feels a little too easy to fit with what's preceded it, but the movie's a real good workout for its ensemble cast. Also, there's an elephant. Miller's probably best known on screen for playing the troubled young priest in "The Exorcist".

Richard Burton: In From the Cold? (1988)

 

RICHARD BURTON: IN FROM THE COLD?

    D: Tony Palmer                                (1988)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

A documentary on the acting career and tabloid life of Richard Burton, from a coal-mining town in Wales to Hollywood, "Cleopatra", seven Oscar nominations and marriage to what's-'er-name. The witnesses are mostly relatives and admirers (plus a refreshingly candid Lauren Bacall), and if the movie doesn't quite capture what drove Burton, it does get at some of his contradictions. Clips from his films help tell the story, but titles letting you know what movies you're looking at would've helped.

The Untold Story (1993)

 

THE UNTOLD STORY  (1993)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Danny Lee, Herman Yau

    Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Danny Lee, Emily Kwan,

    Julie Lee, Erik Kei, King-Kong Lam, Parkman Wong

Extreme exploitation from Hong Kong about a serial killer whose victims end up as a key ingredient in the pork dumplings he then serves to (among others) the cops investigating the case. It's mostly played for laughs, but any time this guy reaches for a meat cleaver, brace yourself. The blood-and-guts quotient is sick.

The Play House (1921)

 

THE PLAY HOUSE  (1921)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton

    Buster Keaton, Virginia Fox, Joe Roberts

In a sort of prelude to "Sherlock Jr.", Buster Keaton plays a stagehand who dreams about a concert in which all the musicians and members of the audience are played by Buster Keaton. The gag was reprised in "An American In Paris" (1951), with all the parts played by Oscar Levant.

Tower of Evil (1972)

 

TOWER OF EVIL  (1972)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Jim O'Connolly

    Bryant Haliday, Jill Haworth, Jack Watson

    Anna Palk, Mark Edwards, Candace Glendenning,

    Derek Fowlds, Seretta Wilson, Gary Hamilton,

    Dennis Price, Robin Askwith, George Coulouris,

    John Hamill, Anthony Valentine, Marianne Stone

When some young backpackers are brutally murdered on an island the locals won't go near, a team of mod archeologists go there to investigate and look for an ancient Phoenician treasure. A kind of proto-slasher movie that starts out in the fog and ends with some decent pyrotechnics. Notable for its blatantly suggestive language, a fair amount of nudity and costumes that look like vintage Carnaby Street. Alternate titles: "Horror of Snape Island", "Beyond the Fog".

Street of Chance (1930)

 

STREET OF CHANCE  (1930)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: John Cromwell

    William Powell, Kay Francis, Regis Toomey,

    Jean Arthur, Bruce Benedict, Stanley Fields

William Powell plays a gambler whose wife (Kay Francis) wants him to go straight, which he promises to do, as soon as he settles some unfinished business. She's heard that before, and says so, but he says he means it this time, he just has one more thing to take care of and they'll get out of town. Will he really be back in time to catch the noon train? Will she be waiting when he gets there? Two things you can take away from this movie: 1) Don't gamble, and 2) If you do, bet the percentages. 

Sundown (2021)

SUNDOWN  (2021)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Michel Franco 

    Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios,

    Samuel Bottomley, Albertine Kotting McMillan

Tim Roth, looking a bit weathered, plays a Brit on vacation at a luxury resort in Mexico with his sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her two grown children. When a family emergency calls them back to London, he decides not to go, claims he's lost his passport, and checks into a hotel in a part of Acapulco where wealthy gringos don't normally go. He seems out of it - a functioning zombie - and you don't really find out why till close to the end. More puzzling is why he's being such an asshole. He's rich - the family owns slaughterhouses - so maybe that's part of it, like, if you've got enough pesos and you're feeling disaffected, the rules don't apply. Keep an eye out for the pigs.

When Knighthood Was In Flower (1922)

WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER 

    D: Robert G. Vignola                   (1922)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    Marion Davies, Lyn Harding, William Norris,

    William Powell, Forrest Stanley, Flora Finch

A silent costume adventure starring William Randolph Hearst's girlfriend as Mary Queen of Scots. In this account of her early life, Mary's just turned 16 and her big brother, Henry VIII, wants to marry her off to the doddering king of France, when Mary breaks with royal protocol by falling in love with a commoner. Hearst liked seeing Davies in period pieces, and this is one of them. It looks like a million bucks, and it should: It cost a million and a half to produce. There are swordfights and chases on horseback, treachery and romance, daring rescues and narrow escapes, but at two hours, it feels kind of long. Skinny, young William H. Powell, in his second film and still more than a decade away from "The Thin Man", plays a knave who wants to deflower the queen.

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)

 

EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES  (1993)  ¢ 1/2

    D: Gus Van Sant

    Uma Thurman, John Hurt, Rain Phoenix, 

    Lorraine Bracco, Pat Morita, Angie Dickinson,

    Keanu Reeves, Ed Begley Jr., Carol Kane,

    Sean Young, Crispin Glover, Buck Henry,

    Heather Graham, Udo Kier, Eliza Butterfly

Gus Van Sant tries to make something out of Tom Robbins' bestselling cult novel about a posse of lesbian ranch hands (a literal "pussy posse") and a woman with oversized thumbs. Robbins' books generally are loose on plot and long on whimsy and wordplay, which works fine on the page sometimes, but can be hard to translate to the screen. The movie's broadly played and heavy-handed, and while some of the language is fun, the rhetorical posturing wears thin real quick, whether it's John Hurt as a flaming queen who's made a fortune in the feminine hygiene business, or Rain Phoenix as the gun-totin' leader of an all-dyke cowgirl gang. Robbins narrates. Ken Kesey and William S. Burroughs make cameo appearances. The music's by k.d. lang.

Tom Robbins

(1932-2o25)

Venom (1981)

 

VENOM  (1981)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Piers Haggard

    Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, Nicol Williamson

    Sterling Hayden, Sarah Miles, Susan George,

    Lance Holcomb, Cornelia Sharpe, Michael Gough

Three bungling criminals - a maid, a chauffeur and an alleged mastermind - kidnap a ten-year-old boy and hold him for ransom. Sadly, one of the many things they've failed to anticipate is the kid's newest pet, a black mamba, which (of course) escapes from its crate and could be lurking anywhere, ready to strike. You can imagine Hitchcock having some fun checking off all the ways a carefully worked-out crime can go wrong, and the movie does an okay job of that, despite an insane conclusion and a few too many shots inside heating ducts from the snake's point of view. It was what's called a troubled shoot. Klaus Kinski and Oliver Reed hated each other, and Tobe Hooper, the original director, quit after clashing with Kinski. Sterling Hayden's last theatrical film. 

Zenobia (1939)

 

ZENOBIA  (1939)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Gordon Douglas 

    Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke,

    Jean Parker, James Ellison, Alice Brady, 

    June Lang, Olin Howland, J. Farrell MacDonald,

    Stepin Fetchit, Hattie McDaniel, Philip Hurlic

Oliver Hardy, in one of the few sound films he made without Stan Laurel, plays a small-town doctor in post-Civil War Mississippi. Harry Langdon, years beyond his heyday as one of the silent era's great comedy stars, plays a medicine-show impresario whose main attraction is an elephant. That could be an interesting pairing, but the material's not up to it, and Langdon's not Laurel when it comes to chemistry with Ollie. The racial stereotyping is awkward at best, and excruciating whenever Stepin Fetchit is on screen. Good performance by the elephant, though.

Renfield (2023)

 

RENFIELD  (2023)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Chris McKay

    Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina,

    Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghashloo, Bess Rous

    Brandon Scott Jones, Camille Chen, Jenna Kanell

Crazed action/horror mayhem starring Nicolas Cage as a maniacally unhinged Dracula. Mountains of corpses. Oceans of blood. A guilty pleasure. Cage's performance is gonzo, even for Nicolas Cage. 

The Woman In Green (1945)

 

THE WOMAN IN GREEN  (1945)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Roy William Neill

    Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke,

    Henry Daniell, Paul Cavanagh, Matthew Boulton

Somebody's been murdering women all over London and leaving them with their right index fingers cut off. Who would do something like that? And why? Could Professor Moriarty be involved? And isn't he supposed to be dead? Better call Sherlock Holmes.

Thirteen Woman (1932)

 

THIRTEEN WOMEN  (1932)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: George Archainbaud

    Irene Dunne, Ricardo Cotez, Myrna Loy, 

    Jill Esmond, Mary Duncan, Kay Johnson,

    Florence Eldridge, C. Henry Gordon, Peg Entwistle

Women who attended the same finishing school together start getting horoscopes in the mail from an astrologer, telling them they're going to die. When the predictions start to come true, the surviving women become concerned. Myrna Loy, still typecast as Asian vamps, plays the astrologer's devious assistant. Nora Charles she's not. Tabloid footnote: Peg Entwistle, who made her only movie appearance as one of the thirteen women, committed suicide by jumping off the HOLLYWOOD sign two days after the film's release.

The 2024 Covie Awards

 

The Covie Awards are as bogus as climate change is real. They were created during the pandemic to honor cinematic achievement in an ever-shifting variety of categories. If there were actual awards to hand out, and anybody cared who they got handed out to, the Movie Buzzard would recognize the following:

Picture: "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" (2024)

Actor: Ralph Fiennes in "Conclave" (2024

Actress: Leonie Benesch in "Teacher's Lounge" (2023)

Supporting Actor: Ed Harris in "Love Lies Bleeding" (2024)

Supporting Actress: Isabella Rossellini in "La Chimera" (2023) and "Conclave" (2024)

Ensemble: "Sing Sing" (2023)

Cameo: Dwight Frye in "Sinners In Paradise" (1938)

Couple: Line Renaud and Dany Boon in "Driving Madeleine" (2022)

Juvenile Performance: Helena Zengel in "News of the World" (2020)

Short Film: "Incident By a Bank" (2010)

Revival: "Time of the Heathen" (1961)

Director: Steve McQueen. "Blitz" (2024)

Musical Score: Armando Ortega Jr. and Mel Elias, 

"Murder At Yellowstone City" (2022)

Set Design: "Bad Times At the El Royale" (2018)

Costume Design: "Times Square" (1980)

Title Sequence: "Strait-Jacket" (1964)

Blood and Bikinis: "Bikini Bloodbath" (2006)

Worst Haircut: Christian Friedel in "The Zone of Interest" (2024)

Best Villain: Colin Farrell in "The North Water" (2021)

Best Mad Scene: Jennifer Jason Leigh in "Kill Your Darlings" (2013)

Heads or Tails: "The Seventh Coin" (1993)

Life Is a Carnival: "She Freak" (1967)

Flipping the Switch: "High Maintenance" (2006)

Going Electric: Timothée Chalomet as Bob Dylan 

in "A Complete Unknown" (2024)

Looking Lost: Derek Jacobi in "Gladiator II" (2024)

Made In Milwaukee: "Lake Michigan Monster" (2018)

Ambition, Glitz and Chaos: "Megalopolis" (2024)

On and Off the Wagon: Saoirse Ronan in "The Outrun" (2024)

Disappearing Act: Adrien Brody in "Giallo" (2009)

Canadian, Eh?: Donald Sutherland in "Alien Thunder" (1974)

Once Upon a Time In Mexico: "They Came To Cordura" (1959)

Wickedest Lipstick: Courtney Love in "Beat" (2000)

Out With a Bang: Don McKellar in "The Event" (2003)

You Mean There's Really a Movie With a Title Like That?: "Jesus Christ: Serial Rapist" (2004)

Fly That Flag: "Alam" (2022)

MASH Before "M*A*S*H": "Battle Circus" (1953)

Dance Performance: Emma Stone in "Kinds of Kindness" (2024)

War Is Hell: "Merrill's Marauders: (1962)

That Face Looks Familiar: Strother Martin in "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950)

It's Not Easy Being Green: Cynthia Erivo in "Wicked" (2024)

Waiting For a Miracle: Sylvie Testud in "Lourdes" (2009)

Hell Is a Middle School: "Teacher's Lounge" (2023)

How To Dress For a Day In the Jungle: The Amazons 

in "Gold of the Amazon Women" (2010)

Lost In Paris: Omar Sy in  "Samba" (2014)

Chewing the Scenery: Anne Bancroft in "'Night, Mother" (1986)

Dancing For Dollars: The cast of "Dancing At the Blue Iguana" (2000)

On the Road: "Gasoline Rainbow" (2023)

Best Frank Sinatra Impression: Jeff Bridges in "Starman" (1984)

He Had To Start Somewhere: Paul Newman in "Ice From Space" (1952)

The West Was Never Like This: "Lucky Luke" (2009)

Most Eye-Catching Nude Scene: Marion Cotillard in "Ismael's Ghosts" (2017)

Most Discreet Nude Scene: Julia Swayne Gordon 

in "Lady Godiva" (1911)

Most Colorful Nude Scene: Dulcamara in "Yellow & Blue" (2022)

Nudes In Wartime: "Mrs. Henderson Presents" (2005)

Most Unconventional Nude Couple: Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in " The Substance" (2024)

Worst Casting: Robert Evans as a matador in "The Sun Also Rises" (1957)

Best Animal Performance: Balto the dog in "The Rodeo" (1929)

Best Title For a Film Noir: "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands" (1948)

Best Performance In a Lost Cause: Linnea Quigley in "Spring Break Massacre" (2008)

Best Performance By an Actor Playing a Character Pretending To Be Buster Keaton: Zachary Mooren in "MaXXXine" (2024)

Best Performance By an Actress Playing a Woman Turning Into a Horse: Simone Bucio in "Piaffe" (2022)

Best Movie To Watch Stoned: "The 400 Tricks of the Devil" (1906)

Weirdest Nicolas Cage Movie: "Longlegs" (2024)

Cutest Drag Performance: Marion Davies in "Beverly of Graustark" (1926)

Lost Generation: "The Moderns" (1988)

Dog Days: "Away To Me" (2012)

Done Too Soon: Robert Williams in "Platinum Blonde" (1931)

How To Be a Diva: Isabelle Huppert in "The Crime Is Mine" (2023)

The Kids Are All Right: "Empire Records" (1995)

Herman Scobie Award For Career Achievement: Karen Allen

Szamanka (1996)

 

SZAMANKA  (1996)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Andrej Zulawski

    Iwona Petry, Boguslaw Linda, 

    Pawel Delag, Agnieszka Wagner

An anthropologist has a turbulent affair with a woman who's nuts. How nuts? You'll see. Poland's answer to "Betty Blue".

Pink Flamingos (1972)

PINK FLAMINGOS  (1972)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: John Waters

    Divine, Mink Stole, David Lochary, Danny Mills,

    Mary Vivian Pearce, Edith Massey, Cookie Mueller

John Waters' famously transgressive comedy about a contest to determine who's the filthiest person in the world. (Not to give anything away, but one of the contestants is Divine.) Even Waters calls it "one of the most hideous movies ever made," and it's basically a catalogue of every depraved thing he could think of that hadn't turned up on the screen before. It's disgusting, and that's the point. (It's also pretty damn funny.) Added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2021, to the everlasting amusement of John Waters.

Terror In the Midnight Sun (1959)

 

TERROR IN THE MIDNIGHT SUN  (1959)  ¢ ¢

    D: Virgil W. Vogel

    Barbara Wilson, Sten Gester, Robert Burton,

    Bengt Blomgren, Åke Grönberg, Gösta Prüzelius

A meteor crashes to earth in northern Sweden, and a team of scientists go to investigate. It turns out the meteor doesn't look much like a meteor, and there's a 20-foot-tall beast prowling the frozen landscape. The pace is leisurely, with several long breaks in the story to allow a couple of the characters to go skiing. (YouTube calls it "ski-fi," an esoteric subgenre if there ever was one.) The movie does answer one important question: How do you kill a yeti? Answer: Throw torches at it till you set its hair on fire and it burns to death. You never know when a piece of information like that could come in handy.  Alternate title: "Invasion of the Animal People".

Tag (2015)

 

TAG  (2015)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Sion Sono

    Reina Triendi, Mariko Shinoda, Erina Mano,

    Yuki Sakurai, Aki Hiraoka, Ami Tomite

Two buses filled with schoolgirls are motoring down the highway when a strange wind comes up and slices the vehicles in half, along with their no-longer-giggling passengers. Only one girl survives - she's a poet who was on the floor retrieving a pen when the carnage occurred - but is she really better off than her dead classmates? She appears to be trapped in an ever-shifting nightmare that turns out not to be a dream, but something potentially more frightening. It's 85 minutes of kinetic, fast-moving horror with blood-spurting special effects. When the teachers, armed with heavy-duty machine guns, start slaughtering their own students, you know all bets are off.

Rolling Thunder Revue (2019)

 

ROLLING THUNDER REVUE  (2019)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Martin Scorsese

In 1975, Bob Dylan set out on tour - driving the bus, it looks like - along with Allen Ginsberg, Joan Baez, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and a bunch of musicians known collectively as the Rolling Thunder Revue. Some 40 years later, Martin Scorsese took footage from the tour and concocted this alleged documentary, with Dylan in whiteface and eye makeup performing some of his best songs, while he and others provide retrospective commentary as talking-head witnesses. "I don't remember a thing about Rolling Thunder . . . so what do you want to know?" Dylan says at one point, and that's as close as he comes to explaining himself. The movie makes no distinction between what's real and what's invented, and you don't always know, till finally Michael Murphy turns up in his persona as Senator Jack Tanner, talking about how Jimmy Carter once got him into a Dylan show in Niagara Falls. In a movie like this one, fronted by Bob Dylan, the fact that Jack Tanner is fictitious makes perfect sense. 

The Top Ten Movies of 2024

The following list was scraped together from the movies I saw last year, either for the first time ever, or for the first time in years. Some I managed to see on a big screen. Others were on Kanopy, or YouTube, or DVDs I watched with friends. Some were rentals from Scarecrow, Seattle's only remaining video store. 

MOVIES I LIKED A LOT:

"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" (2024)

"Love Lies Bleeding" (2024)

"Driving Madeleine" (2022)

"Bad Times At the El Rloyale" (2018)

"A Complete Unknown" (2024)

"The Substance" (2024)

"Empire Records" (1995)

"Incident By a Bank" (2010)

"The Zone of Interest" (2023)

"Strange Darling" (2023)

SECRET TREASURES:

"Lourdes" (2009)

"Lawless Heart" (2001)

"Picture Claire" (2001)

"Murder At Yellowstone City" (2022)

GUILTY PLEASURES:

"Backtrack" (1990)

"Maxxxine" (2024)

"L0nglegs" (2024)

"Carry On Don't Lose Your Head" (1967)

MOVIES I MIGHT WATCH AGAIN SOMETIME:

"Conclave" (2024)

"Blitz" (2024)

"Kill Your Darlings" (2013)

"Gasoline Rainbow" (2023)

"The Burning Sea" (2021)

"Lucky Luke" (2009)

"Wicked" (2024)

"Horizon: Chapter 1" (2024)

"Gladiator II" (2024)

"The Outrun" (2024)

SILENTS, PLEASE:

"Filibus" (1915)

"Running Wild" (1927)

"Beverly of Graustark" (1926)

BACK ON THE BIG SCREN:

"Time of the Heathen" (1961)

"Strongroom" (1962)

"Black Tuesday" (1954)

FOUR FROM THE VAULT:

"The Moderns" (1988)

"Starman" (1984)

"One of Our Aircraft Is Missing" (1942)

"Raggedy Man" (1981)

TOXIC WASTE:

"Gorp" (1980)

Sins of Jezebel (1953)

 

SINS OF JEZEBEL  (1953)  ¢ ¢

    D: Reginald Le Borg

    Paulette Goddard, George Nader, Eduard Franz,

    John Hoyt, Ludwig Donath, Margia Dean, Joe Besser

A biblical B movie about a beautiful temptress who entices the weak-willed king of Israel to shift his allegiance to the pagan god Baal. You can bet the Lord God Jehovah isn't going to stand for that, and sure enough, bad things start to happen to the Chosen People. John Hoyt plays the prophet Elijah and an equally ponderous narrator who delivers on-screen exposition from time to time. Eduard Franz plays the besotted king. Joe Besser (of the Three Stooges) plays a chariotmaker and provides what passes for comic relief. Paulette Goddard, then in her 40s (the exact year of her birth is uncertain)), plays the sinful, seductive Jezebel.

The Suspect (1944)

 

THE SUSPECT  (1944)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Robert Siodmak

    Charles Laughton, Ella Raines, Rosalind Ivan

    Henry Daniell, Stanley Ridges, Molly Lamont

Charles Laughton plays a good-natured shopkeeper who has at least two real good reasons to murder his mean-spirited wife. The question's not whether he'll do it, but when and will he get caught. He's Charles Laughton, so it could go either way. Henry Daniell is his usual sinister self as the wife-beating rotter next door. 

Stealing Home (1988)

 

STEALING HOME  (1988)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Steven Kampmann, William Porter

    Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Silverman, 

    William McNamara, Blair Brown, Harold Ramis,

    John Shea, Richard Jenkins, Thacher Goodwin

A washed-up ballplayer heads back home to carry out a friend's last request, and flashes back on the time when he was a young kid and then a teenager, and the girl who changed his life. A sweet little coming-of-age story, unpretentious, nicely played and not too cute. If you watch it thinking that Mark Harmon's role would be perfect for Kevin Costner, stick around for the scene toward the end when Harmon goes up to bat and the voice over the PA announces that the player he's pinch-hitting for is Costner. A coincidence? I don't think so.

The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974)

 

THE SECOND COMING OF SUZANNE  (1974)  ¢ 1/2

    D: Michael Barry

    Sondra Locke, Paul Sand, Jared Martin, Gene Barry,

    Richard Dreyfuss, Kari Avalos, Penelope Spheeris

About 14 minutes into this, I found myself wondering whether anything in it was ever going to make sense. Nothing did. There's a painter. And a filmmaker. And Richard Dreyfuss as some sort of production assistant. And some hippies. And a young girl who won't talk. And the title character, apparently lifted from the Leonard Cohen song, played by a sleepwalking Sondra Locke. It ends with a crucifixion, but I'm not sure that's worth hanging around for. The title makes it sound like a '70s porno flick. It's not, but that might've been more interesting. 

Scrapper (2023)

 

SCRAPPER  (2023)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Charlotte Regan

    Lola Campbell, Harris Dickinson, Alin Uzun,

    Ambreen Razia, Aylin Tezel, Carys Bowkett

The protagonist of this movie is a 12-year-old girl named Georgie, living on her own as she tries to process the death of her mother. She's doing just fine hanging out with her best (and only) friend Ali, dodging social services and stealing bicycles for the money she needs to get by, till her long-absent dad drops in. A nicely worked-out character study tracking the grudging, evolving relationship between two people who are a lot alike and, starting out at least, clash more than they connect. Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson seem just right in the leads - the girl more grown up than most 12-year-olds, and her dad, at 30, still trying to figure stuff out himself. Now, if he'd just upgrade his housekeeping habits, and she'd maybe wash that soccer jersey she wears all the time, and they'd come to some agreement on what color to paint the living room . . . 

Final Reel 2024

 

JIM ABRAHAMS, 80, writer, producer, director

“Airplane!” 

“Police Squad!” 

 “Top Secret!”

ANOUK AIMÉE, 92, actress

“A Man and a Woman”

 “La Dolce Vita”

"Justine"

JOHN AMOS, 84, actor

“Mac”

  “Die Hard 2”

 “Coming To America”

ERICA ASH, 46, actress

“Scary Movie V”

 “The Big Bend”

 “We Have a Ghost”

JOHN ASHTON, 76, actor

“Midnight Run”

 “Beverly Hills Cop”

 “Breaking Away”

SUSAN BACKLINIE, 77, actress

“Jaws”

 “1941”

 “Day of the Animals”

BOB BANAS, 90, choreographer

“Under the Boardwalk”

 “Heart Like a Wheel”

 “Skatetown U.S.A.”

TOM BOWER, 86, actor

“River’s Edge”

 “Appaloosa”

 “Crazy Heart”

HANA BREJCHOVÁ, 77, actress

“Amadeus”

 “Loves of a Blonde”

 “On the Trail of Blood”

MARSHALL BRICKMAN, 85, writer

“Sleeper”

 “Annie Hall”

"Manhattan"

SUSAN BUCKNER, 72, actress

“Grease”

 “Deadly Blessing”

 “The First Nudie Musical”

JOE CAMP, 84, writer, director

“Benji”

 “Hawmps!”

 “Oh Heavenly Dog”

ADAN CANTO, 42, actor

“2 Hearts”

 “The Devil Below”

 “X-Men: Days of Future Past”

TERRY CARTER, 95, actor

“Abby”

 “Benji”

 “Foxy Brown”

VICTORIA CATLIN, 71, actress

“Ghoulies”

 “Maid To Order”

“Maniac Cop”

JEANNETTE CHARLES, 96, actress

“Born Erect”

 “Queen Kong”

 “Austin Powers In Goldmember”

PEI-PEI CHENG, 78, actress

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”

 “Naked Weapon”

 “Dragon Swamp”

CONNIE CHIUME, 72, actress

“Black Panther”

 “In My Country”

 “Heart of the Hunter”

BILL COBBS, 90, actor

“Sunshine State” 

 “The Hudsucker Proxy”

 “Bird”

MICHAEL CULVER, 85, actor

“A Passage To India”

 “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”

 “The Fast Kill”

DABNEY COLEMAN, 92, actor

“9 To 5”

 “Tootsie”

 “On Golden Pond”

ELEANOR COPPOLA, 87, writer, director

“Hearts of Darkness”

 “Paris Can Wait”

 “Love Is Love Is Love”

ROGER CORMAN, 98, producer, director

“Swamp Women”

 “Sorority Girl”

  “Teenage Doll”

PAUL D’AMATO, 75, actor

“Slap Shot”

 “The Deer Hunter”

 “Suspect”

MARK DAMON, 90, actor

“Anzio”

 “Go For Broke”

  “House of Usher”

JAMES DARRIN, 87, actor

“Gidget”

 “Diamond Head”

 “The Guns of Navarone”

ALAIN DELON, 88, actor, producer, writer

“Purple Noon”

  “Red Sun”

 “The Yellow Rolls-Royce”

SHANNEN DOHERTY, 53, actress

“Heathers”

 “Mallrats”

 “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”

SERGIO DONATI, 91, writer

“Duck, You Sucker!”

 “The Big Gundown”

 “Man On Fire”

SHELLEY DUVALL, 75, actress, producer

“Nashville”

 “Popeye”

 “The Shining”

RON ELY, 86, actor

“South Pacific”

 “Slavers”

"The Fiend Who Walked the West"

ANNIE EPPER, 83, stunts

“Romancing the Stone”

 “The Blues Brothers”

 “Con Air”

EVANS EVANS, 91, actress

“Dead Bang”

 “Bonnie and Clyde”

"The Iceman Cometh"

ANDEZ, 75, singer, actress

“Diva”

 “La Bohème”

APRIL FERRY, 91, costume designer

“Donnie Darko”

 “Mike’s Murder” 

“The Big Chill”

JOE FLAHERTY, 82, actor

“Stripes”

 “1941”

 “Used Cars”

RICHARD FORONJY, 86, actor

“Repo Man”

 “Midnight Run” 

“Carlito’s Way”

KINKY FRIEDMAN, 79, writer, musician, actor

 “Prime Time”

 “The Being”

 “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2”

VINCENT FRIELL, 64, actor

“The Angel’s Share”

 “Fast Romance”

 “Trainspotting”

TONY GANIOS, 64, actor

“The Wanderers”

 “Porky’s”

 “Die Hard 2”

TERI GARR, 79, actress

“Tootsie”

 “Young Frankenstein”

 “The Conversation”

CHRIS GAUTHIER, 48, actor

“Freddy vs. Jason”

 “Riding the Bullet”

 “Watchmen”

MITZI GAYNOR, 93, actress

“South Pacific”

 “Bloodhounds of Broadway”

 “The Joker Is Wild”

IAN GELDER, 74, actor

“Pope Joan”

 “King Lear”

 “King Ralph”

MICKEY GiLBERT, 87, stunts

 “Apollo 13”

 “The Last of the Mohicans”

 “Old Gringo” 

TERESA GIMPERA, 87, actress

“The Spirit of the Beehive”

 “Night of the Eagles”

 “Love Letters of a Nun”

LOUIS GOSSETT JR., 87, actor

“An Officer and a Gentleman”

 “Iron Eagle”

 “Jaws 3-D”

GARY GRAHAM, 73, actor

“The Hollywood Knights”

 “The Last Warrior”

 “The Spy Within”

KATHRYN GRANT, 90, actress

“Anatomy of a Murder”

 “Operation Mad Ball”

 “The Big Circus”

FRANK GRIFFIN, 95, makeup artist

“Scarecrow”

 “Urban Cowboy”

 “Peggy Sue Got Married”

MARK GUSTAFSON, 64, writer, director, animator

“Return To Oz”

 “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

 “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

GEORGINA HALE, 80, actress

“The Boy Friend”

 “The Devils”

 “Castaway”

FRANÇOISE HARDY, 80, singer, composer, actress

“Masculine Feminine”

 “Grand Prix”

“Nutty, Naughty Chateau”

RON HARPER, 91, actor

“Pearl Harbor”

 “Below Utopia”

 “The Poughkeepsie Tapes”

DAVID HARRIS, 75, actor

“The Warriors”

 “A Soldier’s Story”

 “Brubaker”

JONATHAN HAZE, 95, actor

“The Terror”

 “Forbidden Island”

 “The Little Shop of Horrors”

DARRYL HICKMAN, 92, actor

“The Grapes of Wrath”

 “Leave Her To Heaven”

 “Keeper of the Flame”

BERNARD HILL, 79, actor

“Titanic”

 “Shirley Valentine”

 “The Scorpion King”

EARL HOLLIMAN, 96, actor

“Giant”

 “The Rainmaker”

 “The Sons of Katie Elder”

OLIVIA HUSSEY, 73, actress

“Romeo and Juliet”

 “Lost Horizon”

 “Black Christmas”

NORMAN JEWISON, 97, director, producer

 “Moonstruck”

 “Rollerball”

 “In the Heat of the Night” 

GLYNIS JOHNS, 100, actress

“Mary Poppins”

 “The Sundowners”

 “The Ref”

BARBARA O. JONES, 82, actress

“Bush Mama”

 “Freedom Road”

 “Daughters of the Dust”

JAMES EARL JONES, 93, actor

“Dr. Strangelove”

 “Matewan”

 “The Great White Hope”

QUINCY JONES, 91, composer

“Mirage”

 “Walk Don’t Run” 

“In Cold Blood”

JAN A.P. KACZMAREK, 71, composer

“Get Low”

 “The Officer’s Wife”

 “Finding Neverland”

HIRAM KASTEN, 71, actor

“Dill Scallion”

 “The Candlelight Murders”

 “Comic Cabby”

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, 88, musician, actor

“Lone Star”

 “Trouble In Mind”

 “Heaven’s Gate”

MICHELLE LAFRANCE, 45, actress

“Road To the Well”

 “Dynamite Swine”

 “The Downside of Bliss”

JON LANDAU, 63, producer

“Avatar”

 “Titanic”

 “Dick Tracy”

LINDA LAVIN, 87, actress

“Bakery In Brooklyn”

 “Wanderlust”

 “The Muppets Take Manhattan”

STEVE LAWRENCE, 88, singer, actor

“The Blues Brothers”

 “The Lonely Guy”

“The Contract”

JENNIFER LEAK, 76, actress

“Yours, Mine and Ours”

 “Agent On Ice”

 “Eye of the Cat”

MARGARET LEE, 80, actress

“Five For Hell”

 “Asylum Erotica”

 “Killer’s Carnival”

BARBARA LEIGH-HUNT, 88, actress

“Frenzy”

 “Henry VIII and His Six Wives”

 “The Nelson Affair”

RICHARD LEWIS, 76, actor

“Leaving Las Vegas”

 “The Elevator”

 “Robin Hood: Men In Tights”

TONY LO BIANCO 87, actor

“Nixon”

 “The French Connmection”

 “City Heat”

ELIZABETH MACRAE, 88, actress

“The Conversation”

 “Everything’s Ducky”

 “The House of the Dead”

MASUIMI MAX, 45, actress

“Inland Empire”

 “Upside Downtown”

 “The Devil’s Muse”

BRIAN MCCARDIE, 59, actor

“Rob Roy”

 “200 Cigarettes”

 “The Ghost and the Dakness”

CHAD MCQUEEN, 63, actor

“The Karate Kid”

 “New York Cop”

  “The Other Man”

HUDSON MEEK, 16, actor

“Baby Driver”

 “90 Minutes In Heaven”

 “The School Duel”

ALEC MILLS, 91, cinematographer

“The Living Daylights”

 “Licence To Kill”

 “Lionheart”

SANDRA MILO, 90, actress

“General Della Rovere”

“Juliet of the Spirits”

 “Herod the Great”

KENNETH MITCHELL, 49, actor

“Miracle”

 “Home of the Giants”

 “Captain Marvel”

CINDY MORGAN, 69, actress

“Caddyshack”

 “Tron”

 “Up Yours”

PAUL MORRISSEY, 86, director

“Flesh”

 “Trash”

 “Heat”

DON MURRAY, 94, actor

“Bus Stop”

 “Advise and Consent”

 “The Hoodlum Priest”

BOB NEWHART, 94, comedian, actor

“Catch-22”

 “Hell Is for Heroes”

 “Elf”

LYNDA OBST, 74, producer

“Contact”

 “Interstellar”

 “The Fisher King”

WILLIAM O’CONNELL, 94, actor

“High Plains Drifter”

 “Paint Your Wagon”

 “The Outlaw Josey Wales”

CHRISTIAN OLIVER, 51, actor

“The Good German”

 “Rattlesnakes”

 “Ninja Apocalypse”

GRANT PAGE, 84, stunts

“Mad Max”

 “Mad Dog Morgan”

 “The Pirate Movie”

KEN PAGE, 70, actor

“Dreamgirls”

 “Torch Song Trilogy”

 “Shortcut To Happiness”

JANIS PAIGE, 101, actress

“Silk Stockings”

 “The Caretakers”

 “Welcome To Hard Times”

CONRAD PALMISANO, 75, stunts

“Tough Guys”

 “Angels & Demons”

 “Sleepless In Seattle”

MARISA PARADES, 78, actress

“High Heels”

 “All About My Mother"

 “The Skin I Live In”

SILVIA PINAL, 93, actress

“Viridiana”

 “Simon of the Desert”

 “The Exterminating Angel”

LOURDES PORTILLO, 80, director

“The Devil Never Sleeps”

 “Corpus”

 “The Days of the Dead”

MICHELINE PRESLE, 101, actress

“The Prize”

 “King of Hearts”

 “Devil In the Flesh”

NICHOLAS PRYOR, 89, actor

“Collateral Damage”

 “Hail Caesar”

 “Less Than Zero”

ALAN RACHINS, 82, actor

“Showgirls”

 “Heart Condition”

 “Meet Wally Sparks”

DICK POPE, 77, cinematographer

 “Mr. Turner”

 “Honeydripper”

 “The Way of the Gun”

FRED ROOS, 89, producer

“Barfly”

 “Lost In Translation”

 “Apocalypse Now”

GENA ROWLANDS, 94, actress

“Faces”

 “Another Woman”

 “Night On Earth”

CHITA RIVERA, 91, singer, dancer, actress

“Chicago”

 “Sweet Charity”

 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

ALBERT S. RUDDY, 94, producer, writer

“The Godfather”

 “Million Dollar Baby”

 “Death Hunt”

BARBARA RUSH, 97, actress

“Hombre”

 “The Young Lions”

 “Robin and the Seven Hoods”

PAMELA SALEM, 80, actress

“Gods and Monsters”

 “God’s Outlaw”

 “Never Say Never Again”

JOHN SAVIDENT, 86, actor

 “Tom & Viv”

 “Impromptu”

 “Little Dorritt”

PETER SCHICKELE, 88, composer

“Silent Running”

 “Funnyman”

 “Horowitz In Dublin”

ADRIAN SCHILLER, 60, actor

“Wild Target”

 “The Danish Girl”

 “Suffragertte”

DAVID SEIDLER, 86, writer

“The King’s Speech”

 “The Queen of Spades”

 “The King and I”

RICHARD SHERMAN, 95, composer

“Mary Poppins”

 “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”

 “The Jungle Book”

CHARLES SHYER, 83, writer

"Private Benjamin"

"Smokey and the Bandit"

"I Love Trouble"

JAMES SIKKING, 90, actor

 “The Pelican Brief”

 “Scorpio”

 “The New Centurions”

BUD SMITH, 88, editor

“Flashdance”

 “Sorcerer”

 “Personal Best”

MAGGIE SMITH, 89, actress

“Murder By Death”

“Gosford Park”

 “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”

EMILY SOMERS, 38, actress

“Awaken the Shadowman”

 “Girls Like Magic”

 “Playing For Keeps”

ADAM SOMNER, 57, producer

“West Side “Story”

 “The Post”

 “Killers of the Flower Moon”

DAVID SOUL, 80, actor

“Magnum Force”

 “The Hanoi Hilton”

 “Johnny Got His Gun”

MORGAN SPURLOCK, 53, writer, director

“Super Size Me”

 “Rats”

 “Where In the World Is Osama Bin Laden?”

MARTIN STARGER, 90, producer

 “Barbarosa”

 “Nashville”

 “Sophie’s Choice”

DONALD SUTHERLAND, 88, actor

“M*A*S*H”

 “Klute”

 “Don't Look Now”

MATT SWEENEY, 75, special effects

“Apollo 13”

 “Galaxy Quest”

 “Maverick”

ANTHEA SYLBERT, 84, costume designer

“Rosemary’s Baby”

 “Chinatown”

 “The Last Tycoon”

TONY TODD, 69, actor

“The Crow”

 “Bird”

 “Platoon”

ROBERT TOWNE, 89, writer, director

“Chinatown”

 “The Last Detail”

"Personal Best"

GUDRUN URE, 98, actress

“The Diamond Wizard”

 “Man With a Million”

 “Terror Street”

M. EMMETT WALSH, 88, actor

“Blood Simple”

"Blade Runner"

"Cannery Row"

ROBERT WATTS, 86, producer

“Raiders of the Lost Ark”

 “Alive”

 “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”

CARL WEATHERS, 76, actor

“Rocky”

 “Death Hunt”

 “Predator”

FRITZ WEPPER, 82, actor

“The Bridge”

 “Question 7”

 “Cabaret”

ANNE WHITFIELD, 85, actress

“White Christmas”

 “Juvenile Jungle”

 “Pete ‘n’ Tillie”

PATTI YASUTAKE, 70, actress

“The Coverup”

 “Drop Dead Gorgeouos”

 “Star Trek: First Contact”

BOB YERKES, 92, stunts

“Ratboy”

 “Hook”

 “Color of Night” 

ROBERT M. YOUNG, 99, director, cinematographer

“Dominick and Eugene”,

“Triumph of the Spirit”

 “Talent For the Game”

"Who wants to admit they were

  born to play Olive Oyl?"

   Shelley Duvall