Films That Matter
Night Terrors
Unlike most other memorable Hammer horror movies, the 1964 mystery thriller Nightmare, directed by Freddie Francis (perhaps better known as the cinematographer of films like David Lynch’s The Elephant Man and Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear) eliminates all of the monsters for an old fashioned quasi ghost story... the piece deserving to be remembered up there with those Hammer horror films centered on vampires, resurrected corpses, and lycanthropes. Shot in shadowy black and white, the story follows struggling seventeen year old Janet (Jennie Linden), who is currently away from home living at a finishing school for girls.
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Star Pick with Eliza Dushku
A Day at the BeachBeachesJuly 5, 2016Friendship, something we can all hopefully relate to. We all strive to have long-lasting bonds with at least a few people throughout our lifetime. A movie that takes a look at the ups and downs of a lifelong friendship is the 1988 Garry Marshall film Beaches. I recently chatted with actress Eliza Dushku, who has had a fruitful career in the business. In her early teens, she was already procuring roles in relevant titles such as This Boy’s Life and True Lies. She then went on to co-star with Kirsten Dunst in one of her major break-out roles in the cheerleading movie Bring It On.
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Playing Doubles
EnemyJune 21, 2016I have always been fascinated by the concept of the double, also known as the doppelganger in both film and literature. There is something about the device, that is often used in gothic tales, that makes for a wonderfully suspenseful thriller. Perhaps it is my early fascination with the works of Edgar Allen Poe that have influenced my interest in the subject matter, or perhaps it is the fact that I have been told by others that I have multiple doppelgangers, in any case, a film that uses this classic idea is the 2013 motion picture Enemy.
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Asunder Down Under
The PropositionJune 19, 2016The 2005 Australian western The Proposition (which takes place in the nineteenth century) begins with the opening credits unspooling along with historic photos of that era being shown beside them, while a childlike voice sings a sadly eerie lilt and then. . . boom! – we are thrown into a frenetic firefight. This extremely unique opening captures the pace of the film; jarring clashes of violence followed by melancholic sadness and loneliness, or vice versa.
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Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth
The GiftJune 17, 2016There is nothing like receiving a present, especially when it is unexpected. It is exciting to open a perfectly wrapped box to find something that has been purchased specifically for you hiding inside. Yet, this simple concept takes a much more ominous and sinister turn in the 2015 mystery thriller, The Gift.
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Bad Side of the Moon
MoonJune 12, 2016While watching the sci-fi mystery drama Moon, I was thinking that this was going to be it. . . the first Sam Rockwell movie I’ve seen where he does not bust into a dance routine. But alas, no, he meets his quota once again in this flick, similar to his performances in Charlie’s Angels, Iron Man 2 or The Way Way Back, to name but a few. It is not that I dislike his spontaneous groove moves, they are usually highly entertaining; it is simply something that I hawkishly look for each and every time I view a Rockwell movie – feel free to join the cause.
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This Tarnished Gringo Shines
Get the GringoJune 5, 2016Mel Gibson may not be the most popular actor out there now, but there is no denying that he has had one of Hollywood’s more impressive careers over the last three or so decades. He puts everything he has into his work and one of his most recent films that once again impresses, yet has sadly gone unnoticed, is the 2012 crime flick Get the Gringo. Mel Gibson plays the unnamed criminal with the heart of . . .
