Author Archives: Doc

The Amityville Horror (1979)

Posted on by

The October 10 of 13

How is a film that is so well-known and iconic this bad?

The Amityville Horror was made in 1979 based on a “true” story. It is one of the most famous haunted house movies of all time. Yet, this was not a good movie.

It was so silly at many times that it undercut whatever tension and anxiety it tried to build into the mood.

I would give credit to James Brolin and Margot Kidder, who played George and Kathy Lutz- the newly married couple who moved into the house where a brutal murder of a family took place. Brolin and Kidder did what they could and they certainly committed to the story. They were not the problem and they may be the reason why this stinker has passed the test of time.

Of course, Brolin’s axe into the bathroom door came a year before Jack Nicholson’s far superior axe job in The Shining. Brolin snapped out of his trans fairly quickly so maybe Jack needs to take some notes from him.

The same could not be said for Rod Steiger, whose performance as Father Delaney was so far beyond over-the-top that his entire screaming monologues become laughable.

The ending was both sudden and ridiculous. George Lutz was a much better person than I am because I would be going dog shopping for a new dog instead of running back into that insanity. And why did he fall into that huge pool of blood? Where did that come from?

It felt as if the film had a bunch of subplots that never really came together in the movie.

It may be iconic, but that does not make it something you should watch again. Bad movie.

Moonlighting S1 E5

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Next Stop Murder”

This is one of the best episodes of Moonlighting. They brought Agnes DiPesto to the forefront as she winds up winning a space on a murder train. David and Maddie wind up getting stuck on the train too. The Murder Train was meant to be the staged murder, but it turns into a real one. This is another well-known trope in mystery stories but it is around so much because it works.

Miss DiPesto gets a love interest in the shape of actor Vincent Schiavelli. He is quirky and interesting looking and he made a great pair with Agnes. The actor was actually married to Allyce Beasley, who played Miss DiPesto, for a few years.

This actually gives David and Maddie a chance to actually solve the case, well…David in sense. I liked that we got to see that David and Maddie are not always jokes when it comes to their detective careers. They stood out here among a group of wannabe detectives.

As with every train centric episode, they had to climb up to the roof of the train to do battle. They did it in a very Dave/Maddie way that made this a funny exception.

I liked how this episode showed how much Miss DiPesto meant to both Maddie and David and how the eccentric character made such a tight connection with them.

This was a ton of fun and one of my personal favorites in the first season.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Posted on by

The newest epic film from Martin Scorsese was widely released this weekend, based on a true story. The film is entitled Killers of the Flower Moon and it is set just after World War I in Oklahoma and featured the Osage nation.

The Indians of the Osage nation discovered that there was oil beneath their land and they became incredibly wealthy. However, this led to a series of deaths and murders of the Osage people in an attempt to get the land and oil money away from them.

Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) returned from the war to go work for his uncle, William “King” Hale (Robert DeNiro). He met up with one of the Osage Indians from the family that owned the land, Mollie (Lily Gladstone), fell for her and married her. There was some inkling early in the film that perhaps he had married her for the oil.

As their life together progressed, other members of her family started dying off in suspicious manners. It became clear that Hale had been calling the shots and had been using Ernest to do his dirty work along with several other men.

I will say that I thought this film was good. I was not as blown away by it as I thought I might be. There are a lot of strong parts of the movie that just have enough problems to keep it from being a masterful film.

One issue is that the film does feel its length at times. Killers of the Flower Moon is nearly three and a half hours long, which is a marathon of a film and it is not brimmed full with action or dramatic moments. It is definitely a slow burn. Even though I think the film works as a slow burn, I do think they could have condensed some of the scenes in the middle to trim off 10-15 minutes and it would be for the film’s benefit.

Another major issue I had is a spoiler so I will have to just touch on it generally. It feels like something that is a creative swing that may work for some people, but that will be a problem for other. I fall into the latter category. This is the conclusion or the wrap up of the story. The way they wrapped up the movie did not work for me at all and I even think it damaged the narrative that had been constructed.

Positives of the film included some excellent acting. Standout performances came from Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro. Lily Gladstone has been called the heart of the picture, and I can see why. She does an amazing job as Mollie, a woman suffering form the pain of losing family members while dealing with her own health issues. You could feel for her constantly as she tried to take strength from her marriage, despite her husband being a conflicted a-hole.

That a-hole was Leonardo DiCaprio, who does a really great job playing this conflicted and manipulated man. Truly, I found my own opinions on Ernest to be filled with hatred as he continued to make poor choices in betrayal of his wife and her family all for the money.

This was the best performance of Robert DeNiro has given in years. His portrayal of William Hale is creepy and full of sinister behavior as he manipulates everyone to do what he wants them to do.

The technical aspects of Killers of the Flower Moon was exceptional. The film looked great and the directorial job from Scorsese is awesome.

This movie is good, but not great. Th length can be an issue, but it is a interesting story with some top notch performances.

3.5 stars

Gen V s1 e6

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Jumanji”

Gen V sixth episode was a really great one.

Fallout from last week involving Kate and her mental manipulation of her friends was the main storyline of the show. We got to see a lot of the hidden back stories of Kate as well as the others who wound up inside Kate’s mind.

We saw more involving Golden Boy, including a disturbing realization that Andre and Kate had been having an affair before Golden Boy died.

We saw how Jordan had become Professor Brink’s assistant as she helped stop Golden Boy.

We saw more about Marie and her sister moments after she had accidentally killed her parents.

We saw more about Kate’s background and how she came to be with Dean Shetty.

Oh, and there was a Soldier boy cameo.

But the story of Kate was not the only thing we got tonight. We got Emma and Sam back together and making love.

And we find out that Dean Shetty’s plans were to develop a virus that could kill supes and she wants it contagious.

Whoa.

Gen V has been very compelling and getting better every week. Even week four, which felt like an initial back step for the show, turned out to be better in retrospect.

And with the potential deadly virus being created in the Woods, this could have major impact in the Boys world.

Goosebumps S1 E6

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Night of the Living Dummy”

Goosebumps on Disney + continues with some excellent episodes as they reached the episode featuring the dummy that gave nightmares to plenty of kids in the 1980s.

We hear the story of Slappy from the mouth of Mr. Bratt, who is of course possessed by the spirit of Harold Biddle. He tells the kids how Harold came into possession of the dummy and how their parents were involved in his death and subsequent removal of Slappy.

Mr. Bratt became more agitated and disgruntled as he told the story, but the kids were hearing it in a different manner than his own POV. He was becoming irritated that the kids did not share his POV of what happened. His reveal at the end of the episode was well done and made me happy. The possession of Bratt and having him pretend as if things were normal had definitely run its course. I’m pleased that the show took this step because a lot of shows would drag that mystery out for several episodes.

As for Slappy, we have certainly seen this concept before. There were living ventriloquist dolls in The Twilight Zone (Caesar and Willie), Batman the Animated Series (Scarface), and The Ventriloquist Dummy (Hugo). Throw in there dolls such as Annabelle and Chucky, these scary dummy/dolls are used quite a bit. Slappy is a great character to introduce younger kids to this trope.

Will the show be able to make this dummy different from the ones that came before? I hope so, and the show has been doing a great job so far.

Loki S2 E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“1893”

The third episode of season two of Loki just aired on Disney +, and it was a banger. Loki and Mobius were trying to find Miss Minutes to try and get her to help fix the loom in the TVA. They wound up in 1893 at the Chicago World fair and they found something besides Miss Minutes or Renslayer.

They found Victor Timely.

Victor Timely is a variant of He Who Remains… aka Kang. We saw a clip from this show at the post credit scene of Ant Man: Quantumania.

In this episode, Victor Timely does not have the frightening aura that He Who Remains. Instead, he was a blundering con man. An inventor that would sell his inventions that barely worked, if worked at all, only to have unhappy customers chasing after him.

Loki, Mobius as well as Renslayer and Miss Minutes were in a competition to get to Victor Timely first.

When Sylvie showed up ready to try and kill Victor, and Loki had to protect him. And Sylvie was absolutely brutal.

Miss Minutes’s return gave us a better look at the ‘cartoon clock.’ She showed a lot of jealousy over Renslayer and Victor Timely. Her professing her love for Victor was really creepy too. Tara Strong was great voicing this character.

And Miss Minutes dropped a hint that she knows a big secret about Renslayer that would make her made. What could that be?

This was a great episode that gave us a bunch of focus on out villains of the season. And Victor Timely has been taken to the TVA.

That can’t end well.

Slither (2006)

Posted on by

The October 9 of 13

The October 13 continues this month with James Gunn’s horror/comedy/sci-fi film called Slither. This is a monster from outer space type film that had some zombie movie tropes to it.

Gunn’s favorite actors make appearances in this flick, including Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion. Elizabeth Banks is another of Gunn’s regulars. All of these actors are front and center in major roles in this movie.

According to IMDB, “From the depths of the endless space, a flaming meteorite crashes into the dark woods of the sleepy town of Wheelsy, South Carolina. As the scorched rock reveals its silent content–a baneful parasitic organism–a subtle alien invasion commences, and the war’s unlucky first victim is the town’s local businessman, Grant (Michael Rooker). Little by little, as an internal change transforms Grant into an utterly hideous monstrosity, his wife, Starla (Elizabeth Banks), starts to feel that something’s been eating at him the last few days. Now, before the unstoppable extraterrestrial attack, no one is safe, and to make matters worse, Grant’s transformation is far from over yet. Who can stop the slithering army from outer space?”

Nathan Fillion was great as the local sheriff. I loved the writing for Fillion, his dry wit was so apparent and a perfect fit for the story. He was excellent in this role.

This was tense, and it was very creepy, with those slithery red worms going into people’s mouths and turning them into monsters.

Slither had a definite Men in Black feel to it with just more gross-out moments. It was funny with some real laugh out loud bits. Gregg Henry was a hoot in his obnoxious mayor role.

Slither was great. I had thought that I had seen this before, but as I was watching it, nothing seemed familiar. I enjoyed it tremendously.

The X-Files S1 E9

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Space”

This is the second episode among the first nine that I felt was average to sub par.

In fact, I would say that this is my least favorite episode so far.

A former NASA astronaut, who was Mulder’s childhood hero, was possessed by an extraterrestrial spirit of some sort. This spirit was base don the ‘face on Mars’ image that occurred around this time.

I don’t think anything worked with this episode. The story was nonsensical and dull. The acting was far below the series’ typical level. The special effects, especially the look of the spirit on the astronaut, were poor.

They made a connection to the Challenger explosion which felt a little slimy or exploitative.

There were some of the worst scenes, some of the most unintentionally funny scenes in the series history. With this episode following the splendid “Ice,” it really fell down the ladder quickly.

I remember seeing this episode originally and not being a fan then. I disliked this more than I remembered.

From Hell (2001)

Posted on by

The October 8 of 13

From Hell was a detective/horror film starring Johnny Depp adapted from a classic graphic novel by Alan Moore.

The story of From Hell centers around the notorious Jack the Ripper killings that plagued Whitechapel in London,England in 1888. Five prostitutes were brutally murdered and butchered by a mysterious figure in the alleys of Whitechapel, which led to rampant speculation about the truth behind the killings. Countless theories have come forth about the real identity of the murderer. This film looks at one of the more controversial and conspiratorial theories of whom Jack the Ripper was.

I won’t go into specifics on this theory, but it is clearly fictionalized by Moore. The film does a good job of using the facts of the cases and fitting it all into the narrative it espouses.

Johnny Depp played Inspector Frederick Abberline, the detective assigned the Ripper case. Heather Graham played Mary Kelly, the fifth victim of the Ripper. Other actors in the film include Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane, Ian Richardson, Jason Flemyng, and Samantha Spiro.

The film is very atmospheric and looks excellent. The period piece is moody and has a perfect tone for the time frame.

Depp gives a top notch performance in the role as the drug-addicted detective. They matched him up with Heather Graham’s character. I’m not sure that worked fully as the film seemed to push them together too quickly. Still, I did like each individual performance.

The story was complicated, but does work out at the end and does give a modicum of finality which is truly lacking in any real story involving Jack the Ripper.

I have always been a fan of the tale of the mysterious serial killer, having read several books on different theories so From Hell is right up my alley. It is currently available on Max.

Bonus Action Vol. 1 Episode 1

Posted on by

Spoilers

“A Beginning Most Humble”

After three weeks of Odd Jobs, mini missions to introduce characters, Bonus Action started off strong with all six characters involved.

This episode was used as practice, character moments and getting the group to interact.

These six players brought a ton of quirks and enjoyment from their characters. They all have some really cool concepts and back stories that they play as every bit as important as the actual mission. That is awwsome.

This week gave us the outline of the campaign and explained the MacGuffin.

These six players are funny, creative and should make this series a lot of fun.

Moonlighting S1 E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Next Murder You Hear”

Boink! Boink! Boink!

Another key moment for David and Maddie… when David used the term ‘boink’ and said that Maddie was repressed or suppressed or on of those S-words. Their outstanding banter made this series what is was.

David and Maddie get involved in a sensational case of the murder of a romance/love spurned talk show DJ that happened live on the air. No clients, but Addison believed solving this case would be a boom for business.

Maddie didn’t want to take the case and David wanted to, which was a reoccurring theme on the show. However, when Maddie started listening to the tapes of his show, she changed her tune.

This episode looked at David’s developing feeling for Maddie and he goes on a binger, talking to anyone who would listen (or wouldn’t) .

The episode ends with the typical all-out Moonlighting fight scene with David and the killer struggling on a neon light sign.

A great episode that looks at the characters more and a story that is less convoluted than normal.