The Naked Witch (1961)

 

THE NAKED WITCH  (1961)  ¢

    D: Claude Alexander, Larry Buchanan

    Libby Hall, Robert Short, Jo Maryman,

    Charles West, Jack Herman, Howard Ware

Cheaply made regional horror about a college kid who accidentally resurrects a vengeful witch. An introductory lesson in art history and witchcraft, and a documentary-style look at German traditions in Texas, add to the movie's length but do nothing  to enhance the story. Produced for $8,000 by a drive-in operator who wanted a movie with lots of nudity, but except for a modest skinny-dipping scene, you don't see that much of the witch.

Take the High Ground (1953)

 

TAKE THE HIGH GROUND  (1953)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Richard Brooks

    Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, Elaine Stewart, 

    Russ Tamblyn, Carleton Carpenter, Steve Forrest,

    Robert Arthur, Jerome Courtland, Bert Freed

Widmark and Malden play Army drill sergeants whipping a platoon of new recruits into shape. That's the movie, really, except for a melodramatic subplot that's off-base in more ways than one. Anybody who's survived basic training will see something they recognize in Widmark's Sgt. Ryan. Straighten up, soldier. Inspection at 06:00.

They Call Her One Eye (1973)

THEY CALL HER ONE EYE  (1973)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Alex Fridolinski (Bo Arne Vibenius)

    Christina Lindberg, Heinz Hopf, Gunnar Palm,

    Despina Tomazani, Solveig Andersson 

Still mute and traumatized 15 years after a childhood rape, a young woman gets a lift from a pimp who introduces her to heroin and prostitution. When she resists, he puts out her eye in a scene reminiscent of "Un Chien Andalou", so she goes along, turning tricks, shooting up, hoarding her money and plotting revenge. A creepy, disturbing exploitation piece from Sweden, with moments of blood-spewing, slow-motion violence, striking (and sometimes distracting) point-of-view shots, and gratuitous, hardcore inserts punctuating the sex scenes. It's like "I Spit On Your Grave", but with a touch of artistry in the direction and an impassive, blank-slate performance by Christina Lindberg as the victim-turned-angel-of-death. Alternate titles: "Thriller", "Hooker's Revenge". 

Mystery Road (2018)

 

MYSTERY ROAD  (2018)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Rachel Perkins

    Aaron Pederson, Judy Davis, Tasia Zalar,

    Tasma Walton, Wayne Blair, Deborah Mailman,

    Colin Friels, Anthony Hayes, Aaron L. McGrath

When two young men - a white backpacker and an Aboriginal football star - go missing on a vast outback cattle station , a white cop and an Aboriginal detective team up to try to find them. A six-part Australian miniseries that ends up being about a lot more than a missing persons case. The narrative has some loose ends - subplots and characters that seem to be going somewhere and then just kind of vanish - but Davis and Pederson command your attention, and the aerial shots of the landscape are spectacular. (The role the land plays in the story is crucial.) More visual evidence that no place on earth looks anything like Australia.

Betty In Blunderland (1934)

 

BETTY IN BLUNDERLAND  (1934)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Dave Fleischer

Betty Boop falls asleep while working on a jigsaw puzzle and follows a white rabbit through a mirror and into  strange and sometimes terrifying universe. Ed Wynn makes a brief animated appearance. Boop-boop-a-doop. 

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".