The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 584 – Badlands (1973), Terrence Malick and “Feel Good” Movies
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Mark and Jonny Numb discuss the 1973 crime classic Badlands. Directed by Terrence Malick, and starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek and an all-timer treehouse, the movie focuses on the fictionalized exploits of real-life murderer Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. In this episode, they also talk about white shirts, location shoots, and the excellence of Terrence Malick. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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John’s Horror Corner: Subservience (2024), when domestic AI fembots go bad. (PS: this was actually pretty good!)
MY CALL: I was a lot more pleased with this movie than I expected! Very entertaining! Director S. K. Dale and Megan Fox have stepped up their game since Till Death (2021). Another satisfying cautionary tale of AI-gone-wrong. MORE MOVIES LIKE Subservience: For more AI behaving badly, try Child’s Play (2019), M3GAN (2022), Ex-Machina (2015), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Demon Seed (1977). The Machine (2013), Transcendence(2014) and Chappie (2015) all explore self-awareness, our judgment of it and its evolution in different ways. I recommend all three.
After an unexpected medical emergency, Nick’s wife Maggie (Madeline Zima; Heroes) is removed from their children and daily home life for an extended hospital stay awaiting a much needed medical procedure. Now shopping for a domestic SIM to help around the house, Nick (Michele Morrone) receives a sales pitch about their abilities in cooking, cleaning and childcare, with add-ons for accounting, Thai massage, and more.
Nick purchases a model that his daughter likes most: Alice (Megan Fox; Till Death, Jennifer’s Body). Alice quickly becomes accustomed to their lives, schedules and needs. As if Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) just moved in, the house is almost instantly spic and span, the kids like her, and a nice dinner finds them at the dinner table. Oh, and this fem bot wears attractive undergarments. Of course! But fret not. This movie doesn’t wander into very gratuitous waters.
In no time, Alice is listening to Nick vent about work. She’s understanding, supportive, and gets him another cocktail without being asked. Subservient indeed. Alice offers Nick some “extramural” comforts in his harder times which, at first, he resists… to a degree. But she also makes some misjudgments as to what is “best” for the emotional health of the family. Nick resists that more strongly.
Fearful of her prognosis, Maggie pleas to Alice to take care of her family, and gives instructions that may trump Alice’s primary user programing. Did you want a Chucky or Megan mishap? Because that’s exactly how we get a Child’s Play (2019) or M3GAN (2022) mishap!
The reintroduction of Maggie to her own household yields unexpected tensions as Alice understands her children a little too well. And when Nick’s job becomes jeopardized, Alice will go to any lengths necessary to protect her family. No surprises to be found here; this movie goes exactly where you expect it to go, in many of the ways we expect, but also in ways that we kind of want… in a satisfying way. There were even some tropey (but enjoyable iconic) echoes of The Terminator (1984) in there. Another entertaining cautionary tale of AI-gone-wrong.
I was a lot more pleased with this movie than I expected! Very entertaining! The director (S. K. Dale) has stepped up his game since Till Death (2021). And while Megan Fox was not given a great deal of character range to brandish, she also handled her role very well. I would love to see this director-actress team-up continue with subsequent films.
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John’s Horror Corner: Oddity (2024), a creepy, Irish supernatural thriller about a blind psychic, a golem, and a murder mystery.
MY CALL: An okay story executed brilliantly by an up-and-coming horrorsmith. Come, watch, enjoy. You won’t be riveted by any twists. But the journey will be an enjoyable, creepy one nonetheless. MORE MOVIES LIKE Oddity: Maybe What Lies Beneath (2000).
While renovating her remote country estate, Dani (Carolyn Bracken; You Are Not My Mother) is warned by a vagrant (Tadhg Murphy; The Northman) that someone has slipped into her home without her knowing. That night, Dani is brutally murdered.
A year has passed since her murder. Dani’s husband and the doctor attending to the disturbed man, Declan (Johnny French; Caveat) brings the deceased murderer’s glass eye to Dani’s sister Darcy (also played by Carolyn Bracken), a blind antique shopkeeper and psychic who wants to understand the motives of her sister’s murderer. Meanwhile, Declan’s girlfriend Yana (Caroline Menton) begins seeing Darcy in the house at night, as if she haunts the estate of her death. If there’s a favorite character to be chosen in this film, it’s the atmosphere itself.
On the anniversary of Dani’s death, Darcy arrives unannounced at Declan and Yana’s home with a disturbing life-sized, golem-like dummy. Darcy seems insistent, and very agenda’d with her occult dummy, which is filled with tributes that smack of witchcraft. With Declan departing for the night shift, Yara is forced to spend the evening just as haunted by Darcy and the dummy as she is by Dani’s ghost, who might be trying to warn her of something. What ensues is an incredibly creepy, supernatural thriller.
Writer and director Damian McCarthy (Caveat) has come to us with a decent idea and excellent execution and vision. As if building his own horror movie universe (a la The Conjuring et alia), the stuffed bunny from Caveat (2020) is among Darcy’s shelves of cursed curios, along with an icon from Monkey Shines (1988). The movie won’t dwell on this; it’s just a passing titillation. The also film populates our eyes with some gorgeous photography, along with a curious proclivity for beautifully centered shots. Understandably contrasting is the macabre imagery, including an obliterated head with flesh chunks dispersed across a bloody floor, and curious views of the position of the hideous dummy.
Truth be told, the execution and vision behind this film are superior to the story and its revelations. Still, McCarthy is clearly a filmmaker to keep an eye on anticipating his next move… just like Darcy’s ominous wooden dummy.
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John’s Horror Corner: In a Violent Nature (2024), a Friday the 13th love letter from the killer’s perspective.
MY CALL: This is not the fast-paced, “fun” or cheeky popcorn horror you were looking for. This is something else. Something that is simultaneously tropey and thoughtful, and very patient. It’s more of a serious film than a fun flick… but it still packs the over-the-top, way gory death scenes you want. MORE MOVIES LIKE In a Violent Nature: There are many high-quality slashers out there. I’d recommend going back to the earlier half of the 80s for some special selections with the likes of Maniac (1980), The Prowler (1981), Madman (1981), Pieces (1982) and maaaaaybe even The Slumber Party Massacre (1982).
Has the basement scene from The Cabin in the Woods (2012) taught us nothing? During a hike to a collapsed fire tower in the woods where a grisly mass murder transpired many years ago, a twentysomething takes a curiously placed gold locket from the site even after his friend suggested that it looked like it was put there for a reason! Only minutes later, and devoid of the grand Friday the 13th part VI (1986) lightning strike resurrection and stormy weather pageantry, a body slowly emerges, shambling beneath soil and dead leaves. No dramatic scoring to be found; just birds peacefully chirping and the sound of the resurrected’s footsteps through the forest on a sunny day as our undead menace makes his way towards the group of camping twentysomethings responsible for taking his locket.
Then, in classically tropey form, a campfire tale provides the backstory exposition for Johnny (Ry Barrett; Lifechanger, Massacre at Femur Creek), the vengeful spirit that slaughtered those involved in the death of himself and his father years ago… and he was buried under the fire tower.
This is very clearly something of a love letter and reimagining of the Friday the 13th franchise. But the unique element here is that the camera’s perspective is that of our Jason Voorhees-like killer. The camera follows Johnny, revealing the quiet, less eventful observations of a mute masked killer as he moves from one death scene location to another amidst a horror movie. We see what Johnny sees, hears, observes, and what provokes him.
This film has received some negative criticism regarding the pacing, with complaints that “nothing happens” and “we just watch him walking around.” But I’d say, that’s the point. The killer’s perspective is much less salacious than twentysomethings partying, playing music, having sex, playing pranks on one another in the dark, and stumbling across the occasional graphically mutilated carcasses of their friends. Instead, we see how Johnny notices and chooses his victims. And then, yeah, we still get the gory death scene payoff. Moreover, I think we get just as much overall gory payoff. Really gory payoff. The yoga-hook-chain death and the rock-head-smash death were both just deliciously gross and graphic. The movie is so calm and quiet… and then it’s really not.
So is this a Friday night popcorn flick? Not really. It’s a thoughtful, taciturn think-piece showing the killer’s perspective while still delivering some solid, creative, gory kills. For those who want the more flagrantly fun slashers, I’d turn you to the Hatchet franchise (2006-2017). But for those true “film” fans who want a differently flavored slasher from time to time, this is the film for you.
This may not have been very exciting most of the time (except for some wild kills here and there), and the ending was especially slow (but not uninteresting, mind you). Still, I enjoyed this quite a bit. So to writer and director Chris Nash (ABCs of Death 2 “Z is for Zygote”), I’m picking up what you’re putting down.
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Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024) – Review
Quick thoughts – Grade – A – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is a super documentary that’s equal parts heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui have constructed a beautiful doc that uses interweaving narratives, charismatic interviewees, and healthy doses of Christopher Reeve footage to create a wonderful experience that deserves its 100% Tomatometer Score.
One of the best things that can be said about Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is how immersive it is. Produced independently by Bonhôte and Peter Ettedguim and later purchased by Warner Bros. for $15 million after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, the documentary is an open and exhausting experience that doesn’t feel like Christopher Reeve propaganda. This isn’t a promotional piece made by Warner Bros. to drum up excitement for the upcoming Superman movie from James Gunn. This is a well-executed examination into the life of Christopher Reeve, who played Superman in four films between 1978 and 1987, and later suffered a tragic accident in 1995 when a horse riding accident left him paralyzed. Using licensed footage, old interviews, and narration from his books, ”Still Me” and ”Nothing Is Impossible,” the audience is given a warts-and-all look into the life of a man who cared deeply about playing an alien superhero.
While watching the documentary, you can help but have deep respect for directors Bonhôte and Ettedguim, who created a trusting atmosphere that allowed Matthew Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens and William Reeve (Christopher’s three kids) to deliver honest, heartfelt, and charismatic interviews that made me tear up multiple times. They are incredibly open and honest about their parents, and they don’t hold back when discussing how Christopher left for a skiing trip with his friends the day after Matthew was born, and split with his long-time partner Gae Exton (the mother of Matthew and Alexandra) after years of forcing her to essentially be a single mom. Nobody is perfect, and it’s nice that the filmmakers realize that three-dimensional people make for much more interesting documentary subjects.
Another wise decision made by the directors was to incorporate a non-linear narrative that tells the story of Christopher’s battle to cure spinal injuries, and Dana Reeve’s life as a caretaker, mom and stepmom. It works perfectly because it doesn’t become a doc that starts on a high (Reeve finds success and love) and ends on a low (paralysis, cancer, death). What’s interesting is that the two directors didn’t want Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story to be seen as a documentary, so they tried their best to create an immersive, and emotional experience that feels more like a “conversation” than a series of interviews. Kudos to editor Otto Burnham and his team of researchers for finding some wonderful clips and interviews that help tell the story (this interview is great – watch it).
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story also incorporates interviews from Susan Surandon, Whoopi Goldberg, John Kerry and Glenn Close, who gives some very interesting insight into the friendship between Robin Williams and Reeve. Close believes that if Reeve’s were still around that Williams wouldn’t have committed suicide in 2014 (another tear up moment). In addition, the doc shines a light into the private life of Dana Reeve, a charismatic and loving partner/parent/actor who stayed by Christopher’s side and helped unite the family. I wasn’t familiar with her story, so it hit me hard when I learned about her death in 2006 due to lung cancer (she never smoked…which makes it even more tragic).
You will feel many feelings while watching Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which is a testament to its quality. It never feels manipulative or false, and I think it’s going to be a crowd-pleasing (albeit some tears) experience for the people who watch it in theaters. Check it out!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 583 – Raw (2016), Julia Ducournau, and French Horror Films
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Zanandi (@ZaNandi on X) discuss the 2016 coming-of-age body horror drama film Raw. Directed by Julia Ducournau (AKA The Best – watch Titane), and starring Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf and Rabah Naït Oufella, the movie focuses on what happens when a teenager goes to veterinary school and realizes she’s a cannibal. In this episode, they also talk about French horror films, cannibal sisters, and the excellence of Ducournau. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Agatha All Along (2024) – First Four Episodes Review
Quick Thoughts – Agatha All Along is a unique limited series that allows Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza to showcase their abilities in a big budget Marvel show. The quality of the show comes nowhere near the excellence of WandaVision (which is a hard ask), but it’s a fun quest and a nice diversion from recent world ending MCU stuff (for the first four episodes at least).
One of the best things to come out of WandaVision was the popularity of Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), a cheeky witch with a great theme song who played the foil to Wanda Maximoff (Elizbeth Olsen). Hahn knocked the role out of the park and was rewarded with her own MCU show with WandaVision writer Jac Schaeffer stepping up to work as the director and showrunner. The nice thing about Agatha All Along is that since it’s an offbeat spinoff it doesn’t have to be a self-serious VFX smash-em-up, and instead relies on practical effects, cavernous sets, and a wildly selfish witch who occasionally walks around with no clothes (people are making a big deal of it) and uses others to get her powers back.
Much like WandaVision, the show kicks off as a show within a show. This time, Agatha is stuck in an episode of a detective program that seems a lot like the AMC show The Killing (an adaptation of the Danish show Forbrydelsen), where she plays a hard-nosed (and often suspended) detective who is investigating the murder of a Jane Doe. Her investigation brings her across returning characters from WandaVision, and eventually an FBI agent played by Aubrey Plaza. The fake show ruse doesn’t last long as we learn that Agnes is still being affected by Wanda Maximoff’s spell (three years later) and is brought out of her spell fog by a mysterious teenager (Joe Locke), who is mysterious because a curse literally prevents the teen from saying their name or share any personal details. About three-quarters through the first episode the detective show gives way to the actual show, which makes the fake cop program seem pointless. WandaVision episodes resembled classic sitcoms because Wanda watched them as a child and returned to them while coping with the loss of Vision, but it seems like Agatha All Along plays with cop show tropes for 30 minutes for no reason other than to remind viewers of WandaVision.
When Agatha wakes from her detective procedural spell, she’s attacked by fellow witch Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), and told that coven elders will soon be on their way to kill her (she has MANY enemies). Before she’s killed by coven elders, the almost powerless Agatha puts together a makeshift coven of loner witches so she can attempt to complete a plot convenient task that will get her powers back to full force. The convenient task is completing the perilous Witches Road, a trail that is split up by deadly tasks that leave many dead, but awards finishers with what they are missing. The witches (and one random non-witch) joining her on her journey are Iilia Calderau (Patti LuPone), Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn) and Mrs. Hart (Debra Jo Rupp), Agatha’s neighbor who will soon be in way over her head. Together, with the unnamed Teen, they escape to the Witches’ Road and go on a very dangerous yellow brick road. I don’t want to spoil anything else, just know that episodes three and four feature wine drinking, musical numbers and Aubrey Plaza having fun.
What’s nice about Agatha is that she doesn’t want supreme power or to demolish half the population. In Agatha All Along, her main goal is to not be killed by the dozens (hundreds) of people she’s pissed off during her hundreds of years on earth. Don’t expect gigantic action, global intrigue or a massive budget. Go into Agatha All Along expecting a good time with cool actors who are clearly enjoying themselves. Schaeffer has said that the tone of the show is “Kathryn Hahn,” and she’s absolutely right.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 582: The Boy and the Beast, Mamoru Hosoda, and Deadly Darkness
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Kiyon discuss the 2015 Japanese animated film The Boy and the Beast. Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, and featuring voicework from Kōji Yakusho, Aoi Miyazaki, Shōta Sometani, the movie focuses on what happens when a nine-year old orphan becomes an apprentice to a surly bear-man. In this episode, they also talk about stoic heroes, Japanese animation, and angry shadows. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 581: The Croods, DreamWorks Animation and Nicolas Cage
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Nathan discuss the 2013 DreamWorks Animation film The Croods. Directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, and featuring voicework from Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds, the movie is incredibly important because it features Nicolas Cage voicing a caveman named Grug. In this episode, they also talk about road trip movies, DreamWorks Animation, and rewatchable animated movies. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) – Movie Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – B – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a crowd pleasing romp that features inspired direction from Tim Burton and committed performances from Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, and Catherine O’Hara.
After a decade of movies like Dumbo, Alice Through the Looking Glass, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, it was a relief when Beetlejuice Beetlejuice immediately had audiences laughing. It’s a movie about ghosts and the people who can see them, but it feels very alive as Burton and his cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos (Belfast, A Haunting in Venice, Locke) unleash the camera and allow it to float like a ghost as it follows the journey of Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her teenager daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) as they deal with supernatural maniacs. There is a freshness to the proceedings that wasn’t initially expected and there are some genuinely funny moments that had the people in the theater clapping with delight.
The biggest flaw of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is that it’s loaded with an absurd amount of storylines and characters. However, their payoffs seemed to satisfy everyone in the theater and the extra storylines do a nice job of bringing everyone together at the end. The multiple storylines feature Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton – hilarious) dealing with his literal soul sucking ex-wife Delores (Monica Belucci) who is scouring the afterlife for her former husband so she can get revenge for her death (things ended badly between them). Then, there’s Lydia, who has become a world famous TV personality who visits haunted homes for her television show Ghost House. During the taping of an episode she learns from her stepmom Delia (Catherine O’Hara) that her dad Charles (Jeffrey Jones – not shown for obvious reasons) was eaten by a shark AFTER his plane crashed in an ocean. This forces Lydia, Delia, Lydia’s boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux), and her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) to return to their home in Connecticut (that is now Maitland free because Lydia found a convenient way for them to move on). While there Astrid meets a cute kid named Jeremy (Arthur Conti), and the two bond over classic literature and the Pixies. Toss in Willem Dafoe’s underworld boss Wolf Jackson (who loves coffee), Beetlejuice’s assistant Bob, Lydia’s dead husband Richard (Santiago Cabrera), and a weirdo minister named Father Damien (Burn Gorman) and there’s a lot of characters getting screen time. Normally, this would prove to be a film’s undoing, but Beetlejuice Beetlejuice moves so quickly that it doesn’t really matter because there are so many laughs.
All of these characters and storylines eventually converge, but it would be a shame to tell you how because there are some twists and turns that you should experience without spoilers. It’s worth noting that Ryder, O’Hara’ Ortega, Theroux, Dafoe and Keaton are all wonderful and their characters pop off the screen. A lot of credit goes to the screenplay from writers Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Seth Grahame-Smith (who got a story credit). They keep the film moving and the 104 minutes zip along towards a fun conclusion that had everyone in the theater clapping for Beetlejuice’s assistant Bob – who might be the film’s MVP.
As always the costume design from four-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood (Chicago, Sleepy Hollows, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd) is perfect, and the production design by Mark Scruton (Wednesday) feels real and alive. Michael Keaton said he’d only reprise the Beetlejuice role if the gags were filmed practically and not in front of a green screen. He most certainly got his wish as the cavernous sets built in London soundstages look wonderful. Burton thought about retirement after making Dumbo, and after it’s nice seeing him enjoy himself again with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The movie feels alive, and despite way too many characters, you should see it with a packed audience.
Movies, Films & Flix 