Nicolas Cage headlines in Mandy, a drug-addled hallucinogenic ride in this revenge horror (?) thriller. Set in the early 80s, but filled with 70s sensibilities in sense of style and set design, Cage is Red Miller who lives out in the woods with Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough). They have a quiet life, he works is…
Tag: 70s
Mr. Majestyk (1974) – Richard Flesicher
Hard working director, Richard Fleischer delivers a fairly standard action-drama that puts Charles Bronson in the spotlight. He’s surrounded by a score by Charles Bernstein and a script written by Elmore Leonard. Bronson is the titular Mr. Majesytk. He’s got himself a melon farm, and is looking to recruit some migrant workers to help him…
Monday Musings – Boldly Going: My Life’s Journey to The Final Frontier
I can remember a time in my life before Star War and Star Trek. There’s a few years of my childhood in the 70s that were untouched by the pop culture events that would play such a huge part in my life. But when I finally ventured to the final frontier, I was drawn into…
Woman of the Hour (2023) – Anna Kendrick
Anna Kendrick’s feature film debut gives a chilling look at how women have to be aware of everything all the time, as she brings to the screen a true story of a serial killer and rapist, and his unlikely appearance on The Dating Game and may be the bachelor Sheryl (Kendrick) chooses from the three…
Salem’s Lot (2024) – Gary Dauberman
Maybe it’s all the Universal Monster movies I’ve been watching lately, but I found that, for the most part, Dauberman’s adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel (the first one I ever read), Salem’s Lot, works. I don’t like how he changed the climax of the film. He moves it out of the Marsten House…
Death Whisperer (2023) – Taweewat Wantha
I love digging into horror films from around the world, seeing how different directors and cultures dole out their scares, what is frightening to them, and how some things are scary across the board, seemingly tapping into some primal fear. Thailand delivers Death Whisperer, which according to the film’s intro is based loosely on a…
The Long Goodbye (1973) – Robert Altman
I’m probably stepping into a minefield here, but I’m not the biggest Robert Altman fan. Who doesn’t love The Player? And as great as M*A*S*H is, I came to it by way of the television series, so it never resonated with me as much as I would have liked. That being said, I really liked…
TAD 2023: Late Night with the Devil dir. Cameron Cairnes, and Colin Cairnes
The Toronto After Dark film festival got started on Thursday night with a bang with Late Night with the Devil. And it was a crowd-pleaser. If you are a horror fan, this is one to seek out, this is one to demand from your streaming service, this should move to the top of your viewing…
TIFF ’23: Smugglers
With Smugglers, which is having its North American premiere at TIFF, Director Ryoo Seung-wan gives his audience a smart, playful, 70s-drenched crime thriller set in a quiet seaside South Korean fishing town. Jin-sook (Yum Jung-ah) and Choon-ja (Kim Hye-soo) work as haenyeo, free divers who collect shellfish and other seafood, alongside a crew of other…
The Black Phone (2021) – Scott Derrickson
Director Scott Derrickson reteams with his Sinister star Ethan Hawke in Derrickson’s adaptation of the Joe Hill story, The Black Phone and Hawke is nothing short of terrifying as a child killer known, in the late 70s era Colorado the story is set in, as The Grabber. The Grabber is stalking a town that lives…
The Mind Reels 