Strange Darling (2023)

 

STRANGE DARLING (2023) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: JT Mollner

    Willa Fitzgerald, Kyle Gallner, 

    Barbara Hershey, Ed Begley Jr.

This movie follows Jean-Luc Godard's notion that a film should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order. It's a horror/suspense tale told in six chapters and an epilogue, but the chapters do not play out in numerical or chronological order. It's about a serial killer on the loose out around Hood River, Oregon, and it's got a doozy of a switcheroo that you might see coming, or maybe not. Willa Fitzgerald ("The Lady") and Kyle Gallner ("The Demon") are disturbingly good as a couple who embark on the hookup from hell, and Barbara Hershey and Ed Begley Jr. get a nice moment or two as a pair of old hippies living out in the woods. (You won't believe what they eat for breakfast.) The music is alternately dreamy and pulverizing, and Giovanni Ribisi, who's better known for his acting work, did the cinematography. Writer/director JT Mollner doesn't waste any time on backstories or subplots. He cuts to the chase immediately. Buckle up. This one's intense.

The 400 Tricks of the Devil (1906)

 

THE 400 TRICKS OF THE DEVIL  (1906)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Georges Méliès

A pair of explorers encounter an alchemist who turns out to be Satan, and embark on a journey that takes them to London, Vesuvius, hell and outer space. Crazy storytelling, elaborate production design, longer than a lot of Méliès' films (at 17 minutes) and at times visually spectacular. (Watch for the skeleton horse and the coach ride to the stars.) Alternate title: "The Merry Frolics of Satan". 

The Devil In a Convent (1899)

 

THE DEVIL IN A CONVENT  (1899)  ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Georges Méliès

The devil, up to his old tricks. Méliès, up to a few new ones. 

The Black Imp (1905)

 

THE BLACK IMP  (1905)  ¢ ¢ 1/2

    D: Georges Méliès

A demon, a man with a beard and some disappearing furniture. 

Victor/Victoria (1982)

 

VICTOR/VICTORIA  (1982)  ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢

    D: Blake Edwards

    Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston,

    Leslie Ann Warren, Alex Karras, John Rhys-Davies

A musical gender-blender set in 1934, with Julie Andrews as a starving singer who becomes the toast of Paris by pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. James Garner plays a Chicago gangster who falls for him/her while trying to make sense of the ambiguity. Robert Preston plays a gay nightclub performer and Julie's partner/mentor/pal. Andrews makes a cute girl-boy, and the gay humor holds up better than you might expect. One of Blake Edwards' best movies.

Spring Break Massacre (2008)

 

SPRING BREAK MASSACRE  (2008)  ¢

    D: Rex Kramer

    Reggie Bannister, Sarah Minnic, John Shumski,

    Linnea Quigley, Renee Darmiento, Erin Meyers,

    Aly Hartman, Bob Farster, Toni Buena, Sue Willett

Horny, empty-headed twenty-somethings spend spring break hanging out in Illinois (?!?) in a movie called "Spring Break Massacre". See if you can guess what happens to them. 

Vanishing Point (1997)

 

VANISHING POINT  (1997)  ¢ ¢

    D: Charles Robert Carner

    Viggo Mortensen, Christine Elise, Steve Railsback, 

    Jason Priestley, Keith David, Rodney A. Grant,

    Paul Benjamin, John Doe, Peta Wilson

A television remake of the 1971 car-chase classic, with Viggo Mortensen in the old Barry Newman role as Kowalski, a hero of the highway driving a souped-up Dodge Challenger from New Mexico to Idaho at decidedly unsafe speeds, while an army of cops try to take him in or bring him down. The original movie was primal and existential. This one has backstories and religion. The tire-squealing, gravel-spewing stuntwork is all right, but by the time the asshole lawman played by Steve Railsback throws his badge in the dirt, you know the filmmakers are running out of gas.