Category Archives: The June Swoon

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor (2023)

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June 7, 2023

As I was searching for movies to put on the possible list for this June Swoon, I came across this horror film on Shudder. It sounded interesting and so I placed it on the list. I had no idea that this was the fourth film of the series, with the first Hell House LLC being released in 2015. I guess I have some films to watch during The October 13 this year.

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor looks to have built on the previous installments (though I can’t say that for sure) and provided a found footage horror film that was extremely creepy and had its share of effective scares.

According to IMDB, “A group of cold case investigators stay at the Carmichael Manor. After four nights, the group was never heard from again. What is discovered on their footage is even more disturbing than anything found on the Hell House tapes.”

The three main characters that went to stay at the Carmichael Manor did a great job of selling the mysterious feel and the fright that this situation would entail inside a person. The story of the events really work well here, as Margot (Bridget Rose Perrotta) ties the story into her background. The film does this in a very strong manner, not bashing the audience over the head with it. In fact, it is possible that some may miss the connection to Margot if they are not paying attention.

Then, I enjoyed the way the film kind of makes this found footage/haunted house film into a sort of documentary, with a couple of people commenting about the footage that was found of these missing people.

The film goes to great lengths to build a mythology, which I can only assume included a bunch of Easter eggs from the previous three movies.

I found this extremely creepy and a little unnerving as I watched it this morning in the dark. That means this horror film did its job. I was entertained and I look forward to going back and seeing some more of this franchise.

The Boys in the Boat (2023)

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June 6, 2024

Today’s June Swoon 3 movie was one that I actually had tickets for this past year, but I left the theater after seeing another movie first because I was not feeling well. After being unable to see this (Along with Ferrari too), I decided that I would wait for the June Swoon to watch this movie directed by George Clooney.

The Boys in the Boat is the true story of the Washington Huskies rowing team’s unlikely ascension to the 1936 Olympics with a junior team that lacked experience. Led by their coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton), the group of eight young men exceeded all expectations in quest for an Olympic medal.

I enjoyed the actual rowing competitions filmed during this movie as they brought some real dramatics to a sport that might not have as much as some others. The races were well filmed and created suspense in scenes that were fairly predictable.

The film lacked a lot of characterization for the cast, focusing on Coach Ulbrickson and Joe Turner (Callum Turner), one of the crew. The rest of the crew of the row team were fairly simplistic, one-note characters, with a few minor traits tossed their way. Ironic how a sport that is so much about the team does not spend much time with the parts of that team.

The story itself was basic, taking most of the sport movie cliches into play. This was a basic, by-the-numbers sports flick that did not stray from the pattern much.

Having said that, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t inspired by the finale of the film, especially the final Olympic race. There was one final conflict that was tossed in at the end that felt rushed and did not pay off in the end.

If you come into The Boys in the Boat with the idea that this is a basic formulaic sports movie and that it does not go above that, there are things to enjoy here. I think this story could have been more than what was here, but there is something to say for formula.

The Last Repair Shop (2023)

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June 5, 2024

It is a busy day today so I had to get the June Swoon 3 going early this morning and I had another Oscar winner on the list. This was the Oscar winner for Best Documentary Short and it was entitled The Last Repair Shop. I watched it on YouTube, but I see that it is available as well on Disney +. This is just over thirty five minutes long and is a joyous expression of love for music and for those for whom music has changed their lives.

The focus was on a instrument repair shop from Los Angeles that provided a service to the schools of the area to repair damaged or broken musical instruments for free. The film profiles four members of the shop: Dana Atkinson, Paty Moreno, Duane Michaels and Steve bagmanyan.

The film also had words from students who gave quick stories about how they wound up playing the instrument they played. The passion and the joy came through each child’s words as it helped us understand how important these musical instruments would be in their lives.

The stories were very emotional and compelling. The stories of the workers at the repair shop ranged from a man who an Armenian refugee from Azerbaijan to a woman who tried to give her children a better life in America only to struggle to a man who played on the same stage as Elvis Presley.

The film ended with a performance of a song called “The Alumni” which featured many of the voices that we heard during the film.

If you love music, or if you ever played an instrument, you will be inspired by this documentary short film. It is a love letter to music and those people who make it or allow other people to make it.

Justice League: Warworld (2023)

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June 4, 2024

The fourth day of the June Swoon 3: A Cinematic Flashback brought me to HBO Max and the first animated film of the month. It is also the first disappointment of the month.

At first, I felt that Justice League: Warworld was an intriguing concept. Seeing Wonder Woman in the old West was a neat concept and watching her square off with Jonas Hex opened a lot of possibilities. I was thinking this was much like Westworld and seeing the Justice League involved in this setting would be cool.

However, it was not just the old West. After her short bit was done, we came across Batman in the world of Warlord. Wonder Woman was there too. I did not understand what was happening and, if this was the case, why was Batman not in the old West. and where was Superman?

Eventually we came to Superman as an agent of the government in a black and white alien invasion film where both Batman and Wonder Woman would appear as would King Faraday. It also borrowed heavily from a Twilight Zone episode I saw last summer during the Daily Zone rewatch.

All of these side bits seemed to be nothing more than time wasters as the real plot started up in this episode as they came across Mongul, with Lobo, who has some weird sci-fi storyline. Apparently, Warworld is a massive weapon against the multiverse and he was in search of a key. Why he brought the Trinity into the story made no sense, but that was not unlike most of the rest of this movie.

J’onn J’onzz was here too and played a role in the end of the film, but the movie made the entire thing feel unnecessary as it was being used simply to introduce the idea of Crisis on Infinite Earths. The movie brought in what I assume was Harbinger at the very end to rescue the Trinity and set up the next animated film. I am only guessing that this is Harbinger since the look of the character is nothing like I remember. She looked more like Marvel’s Frankie Raye aka Nova than she did the Harbinger from Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Jensen Ackles lead the voice cast which included Stana Katic (formerly of Castle fame) as Wonder Woman, and Darren Criss as Superman. Other actors included Ike Amadi, Troy Baker, Matt Bomer, Roger Cross, Brett Dalton, John DiMaggio, Frank Grillo, Teddy Sears, Kari Wahlgren, and Robin AtkinDownes.

The animation was fine, but did not standout in any instance. The characters did not feel right. Even in Elseworld type stories, the characters needed to feel like the characters we know in order for us to relate to them. Much of the story was convoluted and only felt as if it existed simply to put them in these specific settings. Worse yet, was it simply felt like a commercial for the next DC animation film.

Usually, the DC animated movies are very well done. This was quite a step down.

Thanksgiving (2023)

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Eli Roth’s holiday slash-fest is the next film in the June Swoon 3 as I pulled up Thanksgiving on Netflix this morning.

Slasher movies are not my favorite sub-genre of horror film historically, but I have to say that I fund Thanksgiving to be a decent film with plenty of scary (maybe gory is the better word) moments and a film that avoided a lot of the typical stupid behaviors associated with slasher films.

I liked how this film started off, setting up suspects for who would eventually be the John Carver murderer. There were a ton of red herrings in the film and I really liked how they went through these methodically.

Some of the kills were really gruesome too. A couple were so bad that I actually had to avert my eyes once or twice. I know I am a wuss, but I am not big on the gore.

The Black Friday scene was absolutely over the moon and set this craziness up perfectly. It also introduced us to some eventual victims who I was looking forward to seeing get their comeuppance for their crazy behavior during this riot.

The film does a great job of taking comments or incidents from the beginning of the film and pay them off in the finale. That was some solid writing and made everything feel important.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and brought a new flair to the slasher sub-genre.

The Zone of Interest (2023)

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The next film in the June Swoon 3: A Cinematic Flashback is the second consecutive Oscar winning international film. The Zone of Interest is a look at a slice of life among a career driven man, his wife and happy family as they deal with the daily events of their lives.

Oh, did I mention that he was a Nazi commandant?

Oh, not just any Nazi commandant, but Rudolf Höss of Auschwitz?

I knew the film was a Holocaust setting, but I was unaware what I was about to watch. Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), along with his wife Hedwig Höss (Sandra Hüller), were our main protagonists. I did not figure out who they were until a bit into the film and to say that I was shocked when I figured it out would be an understatement.

There were a couple of times where I had to stop and say to myself that I was not feeling sorry for Rudolf Höss. The film did a great job of showing the entire person that this evil man was and displaying that even evil men and women have sides to their personality that you may not expect.

I do not think the film humanized Rudolf Höss as much as it showed how real life has plenty of shadows and moments where even the worst of us have quiet times.

Sandra Hüller appeared in her second consecutive film in this year’s June Swoon with her role as Hedwig. This was a wicked woman too as the film showed her being soft and loving, as well as moments when she would switch immediately to cruelty and a savageness that was unexpected. There was a scene where she told her Jewish servant that she could have her husband scatter her ashes across the land. I literally gasped at that comment.

As an A24 film. The Zone of Interest did not really have a laid out plot. It was more of an exploration of daily life just outside of the worst concentration camp in the Holocaust. It did not feel as if anything was building to a climax. It was just a series of scenes that were very powerful in their own.

One of the most effective techniques used was the management of sound. The film would have scenes with the happy family or of the beautiful home they enjoyed, but in the background, you could hear the sounds of gunfire, or dogs barking, or the suffering of Jewish prisoners. The sound cues of the film made this a truly haunting effect, without ever having the visual imagery on the screen. This juxtaposition is clearly why the film was able to win the Best Sound Oscar at the Academy Awards.

I have to say that the beginning was an odd experience for me. The film began with an extended black screen, though I could hear sound going on. I honestly thought that there was something wrong with MAX. I almost stopped it so I could see why it was not showing a picture. I was able to determine that this was intended.

This was the Academy Award winner for Best International Feature Film (although it was not up against Anatomy of a Fall) and received a nomination for Best Motion Picture as well as Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jonathan Glazer. This is one of those films that could stay with you for awhile and the image of the ending with present day Auschwitz was extremely poignant.

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

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The third annual June Swoon got underway this morning with an Oscar winning foreign film that I had missed from 2023. Anatomy of a Fall received a lot of Academy buzz earlier this year as it was nominated in several major categories, oddly enough except for Best International Film.

Anatomy of a Fall tells the story of a couple and their 11-year old son. The couple had been having troubles since an unfortunate accident that led to their son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner),when he was four years old, losing much of his vision. Moving back to his hometown, Samuel (Samuel Theis) struggled to write, battled his guilt over Daniel’s accident and resented his wife, Sandra (Sandra Hüller).

So a day after an especially violent fight, Samuel was found outside of their home, dead from a fall out of the third story window. Isolated as they were, Sandra became the prime suspect in the death of Samuel and she is placed on trial for the murder.

This may be a spoiler, but I do love how the case is resolved (or not so much), storyline wise. I find that an intelligent manner of storytelling and allows you the viewer to add to the tale being told.

There were some excellent performances. Sandra Hüller received an Oscar nomination as Leading Actress in a Feature, and it was well deserved. Hüller brought plenty of emotions to the role, from an icy response to passionate rage. Milo Machado-Graner was just as excellent as the visually-impaired Daniel. Daniel had to go through a lot of pain and anguish during the film, and had to perform as a visually-impaired child too. He may have been the I See Child Actors Award winner at the EYG Year in Review section had I seen this film last year instead of during the June Swoon. His work was exceptional and every bit as compelling as any of the adults in the film.

The film may be slow for some, but I was engrossed from the first moments of the film, wondering the whole time what the truth of the story would be. The court scenes were fascinating too, as this was the first time I had ever seen a court case portrayed from a French court. The differences were striking from the US courts that I am more familiar with.

Anatomy of a Fall is beautifully constructed as a mystery, as a courtroom drama and as a personal story of a family filled with pain just trying to get by. Great performances fill the two hours and thirty minutes of the film and I can certainly understand why it had received as many Oscar nominations as it did.

My Old School (2022)

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June 30, 2023

Day 30, Movie:30

The June Swoon 2 comes to an end today with a bizarre real story that plays with perspective and feels as if it couldn’t have really happened. It did though.

My Old School is a documentary on Hulu that told the tale of 16-year old Brandon Lee who enrolled at Bearsden Academy, a secondary school at a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. Set during the mid 1990s, Brandon was an excellent student who made friends, starred in the school musical and lived with his grandma. Brandon, though, was not what he appeared to be. In truth, Brandon Lee was a pseudonym of Brian MacKinnon, a 32-year old man who had attended Bearsden Academy during the 1970s.

This alone was wild, but the doc, directed by former classmate of ‘Brandon Lee’ at Bearsden, Jono McLeod, included such amazing things as an actual interview with Brandon/Brian himself, who is implied to have had plastic surgery. Brian refused to be on screen, so instead they had actor Alan Cumming (star of stage, Schmigadoon, and X2: X-Men United as Nightcrawler) play Brandon and lip synch the interview that had been given. Cumming did an astonishing job with his lip synching and I never would have guessed that it wasn’t his own voice had the doc not told this at the beginning.

SPOILERS- at this point, if you want to watch this, you may want to skip the next section as I am going into some details on the craziness that this documentary covered.

This was still not the weirdest aspects of this story, as Brian befriended another teenage boy in his class that had the same name, Brian MacKinnon. Brandon/Brian said that he had the ability to hypnotize people, a skill he used on teachers and admin in order to avoid a birth certificate. He stayed with his grandma, who supposedly died at one point, only to be found alive, and then to be discovered to not be his grandma, but his mother, who was supposed to be an opera singer that had died before he came to Bearsden Academy.

The documentary interviews a bunch of the kids and teachers who knew Brandon Lee and who even spent time with him. Some of the teachers had actually been at the school when Brian MacKinnon was there in the 70s and when Brandon Lee was there in the 90s. The doc showed us a recording of the actual play that Brandon Lee starred in and a kiss that he shared on stage with with co-star, a 16-year old.

It was fun to listen to the adult version of these kids who all had differing ideas and POVs of what happened, some even still not 100% sure what he had done. It seemed to have developed into an almost urban legend.

There were actual footage from the time as well as animated reenactments of things that happened. Some stories were told several times because some of the students saw things in a different light. The animated secti0ns of the film used voice actors Lulu and Clare Grogan to create the reenactments.

I found this story entertaining and downright unbelievable. The story is told extremely effectively with the animation, the interviews and the amazing Alan Cumming. Truly a mind-blowing documentary.

The Duke (2022)

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June 29, 2023

Day: 29, Movie:29

I always love Helen Mirren. I have also always loved Jim Broadbent. Putting these two iconic British actors together in a film had to be a great idea.

Thankfully, it was.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, “In 1961, Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly — he had long campaigned for pensioners to receive free television. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge — Kempton had spun a web of lies. The only truth was that he was a good man, determined to change the world and save his marriage.”

Jim Broadbent has never been more charming than he was here in this Don Quixote-type story of a man who fought for little things. But there was more to the story than his mission to get free television in Britain. His wife Lilya (Helen Mirren) and he had lost a daughter in a bicycle accident and they had never dealt with that loss together. The film was as much, if not more, about grief than it was about any fight for justice.

Based on a true story, The Duke does what British films do wonderfully well, provide an oddball character, play it for some witty laughs and be filled with heart. The Duke may be a tad sentimental, but the central performances here are so good that any drawbacks the film may have are overlooked.

Sick (2022)

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June 28, 2023

Day: 28, Movie: 28

A poor man’s Scream.

I chose this movie for today’s June Swoon 2 because I saw it on Peacock and they always have the Rotten Tomatoes score listed. It said it was 87%. That made me think this was a film to watch. Boy, I was wrong.

According to IMSB, “In April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, college student Parker Mason (Gideon Adlon) takes her best friend, Miri Woodlow (Bethlehem Million), to her family’s lake house to quarantine her. They arrive at the luxurious and secluded lake house when Parker receives a cryptic text message. The girls head to a small dock to get a tan and Parker receives another message that unnerves them both. From that moment on, all the tranquility they were looking for turns into a fight for their survival.“

This was so dumb. Everything from the choices these characters make to the reasons behind the killings, I did not enjoy this movie at all. There were a few main characters and I knew nothing about any of them so I had little reason to root for their survivals.

The performances were fine for what they were. The actors involved were not the problem in this movie. It was the script and the writing. Setting this in the middle of the pandemic was fine too. The use of COVID as a plot point did not bother me, mainly because there were so many other problems to deal with.

I just did not connect with this film at all. It felt like I had seen it all before and the characters were so one dimensional and lacking depth that I couldn’t care much when they were being attacked. Go rent Scream movies instead.

What Josiah Saw (2022)

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June 27, 2023

Day: 27, Movie: 27

A psychological horror film from Shudder called What Josiah Saw is one of the more unsettling and disturbing films I’ve seen in awhile. There was plenty of icky concepts and things happening.

It is the story of one family who come back together to face the horrors of their past. Three children, Eli (Nick Stahl), his twin sister Mary (Kelli Garner) and their slower brother Tommy (Scott Haze), and their slimy father Josiah (Robert Patrick), face with their sins from their life.

The film was broken into three sections. The first section included Tommy and Josiah, which included one of the most disturbing scenes of the flick. The next section was with Eli trying to get his life straightened out, but really not have much success. There was a whole section with Eli and a bunch of gypsies. Then we met Mary and her struggles in trying to become a mother via adoption. She was also shown as suicidal over something from her past. Eli came to see her about the oil company letter wishing to buy their childhood home property.

This is where the story came together as the three kids reunited and the past comes up. I won’t go into what that was because there were some major revelations here.

It was an uncomfortable film. There were very few characters that felt worth rooting for, though I did kind of connected with Eli, even though the very end of the film took that away from me.

I had a little trouble getting into the movie at first because Robert Patrick was such a horrendous person. Robert Patrick delivers an amazing performance because I really hated this character.

I’m not sure I would recommend this movie to many people. It was a slow burn and definitely filled with scumbag characters. Still, I thought the story was well developed and the performances were outstanding. This is another one that I will never watch again, but not because it was bad. I just felt like a shower afterwards.

No Exit (2022)

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June 26, 2023

Day: 26. Movie: 26

The twenty-sixth movie of the June Swoon 2 was found on Hulu and it was a thriller called No Exit. Dennis Haysbert, formerly President Palmer on 24, was the only actor I recognized from the cast, although I discovered that Danny Ramirez was Joaquin from the Falcon and the Winter Soldier Marvel + series.

Our main protagonist though was Darby (Havana Rose Liu). Darby was in rehab when she received a phone message that her mother was in the hospital with a brain aneurysm. Darby was not allowed to make a phone call without the doctor’s permission, and the doctor was out of touch for the weekend. Darby broke out of the hospital and started for Salt Lake City, where her mother was.

However, there was a huge snow storm and the roads were impassable. Darby was redirected to a mountain rest stop where several people were also waiting out the storm. As she was out trying to get reception on her cell, Darby stumbled across a little girl who was tied up in the back of a van. This was when Darby realized one of the people at the rest stop was a kidnapper.

No Exit had some good excitement and some moments of thrills. Overall, it was a decent flick. However, there were plenty of plot holes or events that were either incredibly coincidental or very hard to believe. I do believe that if you choose to do so, you could pick apart this movie fairly easily.

Despite those problems, Havana Rose Liu was extremely likable and easy to root for, even with the errors that she had clearly made in her life. The other people in the rest stop were also a nice mix of characters, especially Ed (Dennis Haysbert), a former Marine.

Is any of this likely? It certainly stretches credibility in several moments, but director Damien Power knows the strength of this film is in his small cast and the claustrophobic setting and both of those work very well.

Soft & Quiet (2022)

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June 25, 2023

Day: 25, Movie: 25

I feel sick to my stomach.

It has been a long time since I have seen a movie as disturbing, unsettling and upsetting as Soft & Quiet, which I found on Netflix for the June Swoon 2.

I had no idea what this movie was about. The synopsis for the movie did not prepare me for what I was going to get. Shown in real time, a group of women, led by kindergarten teacher Emily (Stefanie Estes), held a meeting at a local church for their club. From there, things spiral out of control.

These seemingly sweet and kindly women were a part of a club of “like-minded” women. This was a nice way to put racist. They were an white support group that complained about every minority in the area. That was dark enough, but I had no idea what was coming next.

As they were heading to pick up some wine and go home to continue their meeting (after getting kicked out of the church), they came across a couple of Asian women at the store and engaged in some vicious comments.

This escalated to the point where the women went to the Asian women’s home to teach them a lesson.

It amazes me how much hatred there is for people in the world based on nothing but physical differences or perceived slights. Watching this really drove home the point how much hate can be a cancer and how it can become more easily.

This was a horror movie in the way that real life can be a horror. Blumhouse produced this movie and it absolutely created horror in me.

This movie was not an enjoyable experience, but it was not enjoyable because of the way it made me feel. The movie was extremely effective in its story and the acting felt real. There are several movies that I think are powerful and brilliant movies that I will never watch again. This is one of those.

Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

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June 24, 2023

Day: 24, Movie: 24

I chose to go with Downton Abbey: A New Era as the June Swoon 2 film for the day despite the fact that I never watched any episodes of the original PBS series or the first feature movie. I wondered as I was watching A New Era how much of this movie would have been affected by me not watching anything prior to it. I didn’t feel lost as I watched it, but I wondered if it would have felt richer if I had.

There were several storylines going on during the film. First, some of the crew went to the South of France to see a villa that had been left to Violet Grantham (Maggie Smith). Second, a Hollywood movie crew came to Downton Abbey to film on location. There were other storylines involving the staff too.

There did feel like there were some storylines were ignored or pieces of the plot were never fully addressed. Again, that may be because I do not know these characters as much as a longtime fan of this property would be, but there were some moments that felt lacking.

I did like the idea of the Hollywood movie angle. It was actually the story of Singin’ in the Rain as the film they were making was a silent picture, but silent pictures were on their way out. So they changed it to a ‘talkie’ picture. Problem was (just like Singin’ in the Rain) the lead actress of the film, Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock) had a voice that was terrible and they had Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) dub the film. So this story worked because, one of the greatest musicals of all time already used it.

I do love Maggie Smith. Every minute she was on screen, the movie truly popped. It was a shame that she did not get more time, but it did make sense for the narrative. I also enjoyed the ultimate British butler Mr. Carson (played by Jim Carter) bringing the British to France.

I found this Downton Abbey film to be passable. I was not totally lost and it was enjoyable enough. They did cram a lot into the two hours and it felt as if it could have been shortened up some to make it more concise. Still, not bad.

The Elephant Whisperers (2022)

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June 23, 2023

I have a busy day today at the movie theater; in order to fit everything in to the schedule today, I had to make plans for the June Swoon 2. What I planned was to watch a short this morning. The short I decided on was on Netflix and had been the Academy Award winning short for Best Documentary short at this previous Oscar ceremony. It was called The Elephant Whisperers.

This doc took us to India where we meet an indigenous couple named Bomman and Bellie, who were able to raise two orphaned baby elephants. At first, they were given responsibility over a calf named Raghu, who was frail and sickly. Bomman and Bellie cared for the baby elephant and a bond grew between them. From the great success that they had shown with Raghu, the park rangers of the Mudumalai National Park entrusted them with a second baby elephant named Ammu.

Watching the interactions with the elephants and Bomman and Bellie was fascinating and beautiful. The couple truly treated the elephants as part of their family. Bellie spoke of the loss of one of her own children, a daughter, and how Raghu was able to comfort her, literally wiping away her tears. This was a poignant moment in the doc.

The doc showed the elephant kicking a soccer ball around, playing freely like any little kid might.

The imagery and picturesque shots of the park made The Elephant Whisperers even grander than it would have been. Director Kartiki Gonsalves made her film debut with this documentary, spending five years with the family of the Kattunayakan tribe.

The 41 minute short is a beautiful piece of art and shows a close relationship between humans and elephants. The film does a great job of showing the bond between them and the feelings shown by both human and animal.