Black Rainbow (1989) Jason Robards, Rosanna Arquette, Tom Hulce

February 11, 2020August 17, 2021 / jelliotthhp / Leave a comment

Don’t get me wrong, I really really liked this movie, but oooh! The ending! I’m a big Rosanna Arquette fan and was tickled that Tom Hulce is in this. Remember him from Amadeus? This film wouldn’t have launched him to stardom but it’s not bad. I wish I was in a movie club like a book club so we could discuss this film. The plot: a psychic with an exploiting bastard for a father is kept virtual prisoner by him. They travel doing psychic shows and enjoy moderate success but the father squanders the money away. The psychic begins to get messages from the dead… before they are dead. This unsettles everyone involved, most of all her. For 3/4 of this film I wondered where the supernatural element was going to come into play as it seemed mostly a psychological drama. And it’s a good one. But the ending… Most films with a twist like Sixth Sense do a nice recap at the end where you can see where you were fooled. Not so this one. Now I’ve heard that a more recent version has been released with a commentary track. I need to hunt this down because, dang… the movie ended and I thought… wait. Did I go to the bathroom and miss something? Nope. So either there is a gaping plot hole that I fell into or there was a super subtle moment that I missed… or it ended up on the editing room floor. I don’t know. If you’ve seen this movie, please tell me your explanation of the ending!

See Internet Movie Database: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099143/

***Spoiler alert…. stop here if you haven’t seen it but intend to*** So the big question: When did she die? She doesn’t get shot in the final scene in the hotel yet she’s in two places at once. So I’m thinking she must have been already dead. So is she dead the whole time? If so, why on earth would she remain stuck doing essentially parlor tricks to keep her Dad afloat. And why have the fling with the reporter? Just cause? I’m so confused…

Paranormals (2014)

September 9, 2019May 11, 2021 / jelliotthhp / Leave a comment

Director: Evan Falbaum

Stars: Daniel Lachman, Kemerton Hargrove Jr., Mitch Landry

A charming bromance movie about Adam and Thomas, two best friends who’ve been ghost hunting together since childhood. As they enter adulthood, Thomas gets a “real job” at an office in Dallas with a double cubicle and his own little computer. Adam must find a new partner if he is going to start a ghost hunting business. But Adam’s new partner is a shady con artist and Thomas’s success is thwarted by an adversary in the office.

This isn’t a scary movie at all, so if you’re looking for a scare, this isn’t it. The film has the pace and indie feel of the series The Detectorists and one of my favorite films Safety Not Guaranteed. I recommend it for its originality and quirkiness. And if you work in a tedious job with a cubicle and a copier that seems to malfunction with regularity, this is a must see.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018)

August 22, 2019August 17, 2021 / jelliotthhp / Leave a comment

One of my favorite books made into a movie!

The book of the same name by Shirley Jackson, is one of my all-time favorites, and this film captures the feel of the book well. A common theme in Jackson’s work is the sense that “polite society” is just a thin veneer of gentility with an underbelly seething with judgement, hostility, and menace. At a glance, the two sisters seem peculiar but how did they get that way? Are they the frightening ones?

As a largish woman with red hair and glasses, Jackson did not align herself with the June Cleevers of the world or a society in which women were not expected to have intelligence and were expected to host cocktail parties to promote their husbands, enjoy housework and raise children.

This novel and film focus on two sisters, who live in a rambling mansion with their mentally-impaired uncle Julian. The rest of their family died in a poisoning accident at dinner. The older sister was the main suspect. Though she was acquitted–apparently along the lines of “a nice girl like that could never do such a thing” –the townspeople regards the two girls with fear and suspicion.

Mary Catherine, aka “Merricat” must foray into town once a week for food. As a nervous introvert, she dreads these encounters with the outside world. Her sister Constance and uncle Julian never leave the house.

When an estranged cousin arrives to “help”, he upsets the harmonious dynamic of the household. Constance, portrayed in the film as a Barbie-esque product of the 50’s, a submissive woman who will look to a male figure for guidance and smile her way through any unpleasantness and only see the good in people, welcomes him into their home. Merricat sees through his charming façade. A self-made witch, she works charms to protect them from his insinuating presence. Charles is strong. Merricat feels him turning her beloved Constance against her. Unlike her pliant sister, Merricat will fight back with all she’s got.

The film follows the novel well but took a liberty with the ending regarding cousin Charles. A pity that Shirley Jackson is no longer with us to interview regarding this departure from her story. Personally, I think it works logically and adds some tension cinematically though it does change the yin/yang dynamic between the male and female characters.

Trailer:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5952138/videoplayer/vi256359705?ref_=tt_ov_vi

Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)

June 21, 2019August 17, 2021 / jelliotthhp / 2 Comments

This is not a supernatural film as you might expect; it’s a psychological thriller about a devoted husband, Billy Savage married to an unstable wife, Myra. She believes she can channel the spirit of her dead child. To validate her claims to be a powerful medium, She coerces her husband to kidnap a child. She will then help the family and the police to recover the child and thus validate her claim as powerful medium. Outstanding performances by Kim Stanley and Richard Attenborough and a satisfying conclusion make this well worth watching. And for film buffs, a great study in music, atmosphere and camera work.

This is an old-school style gem that without relying on any gimmicks, computer graphics or special effects, is very effective.

More info on Internet Movie Database: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058557/?ref_=ttmi_tt

Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947)

June 7, 2019 / jelliotthhp / Leave a comment

There are multiple movie versions of Bel Ami, based on the story by Guy de Maupassant, one of my favorite writers, but THIS one happens to have a young Angela Lansbury as the lovelorn Clothilde, and George Sanders as the status-and-power craving Bel Ami. Looking both handsome and a bit Snidely Whiplash, eh?

and one of my favorite actors of the era, Warren William in a small role as Laroche-Mathieu.

The plot is straightforward: Bel Ami moves himself up the social ladder by marriage and deceit. Callous and plotting to the point of psychopathy, he is loved faithfully by Clothilde. She sees his villainy and calls him out for it. His downfall (not a spoiler, we know it’s coming) arises when he attempts to buy what he believes is an available title of an aristocratic family. As noted in the plot synopsis on the Internet Movie Database page, “The moral, at the end, is it is okay to mess with French women, but trifling with French titles is going too far.”

Credit: Les Adams: <a href="http://http://<longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Onibaba (1964) Japanese

June 5, 2019August 17, 2021 / jelliotthhp / Leave a comment

This artsy, black and white film has a slow build and a straightforward plot. Two peasant women, mother and daughter, are forced to kill samurai returning from war. By selling their belongings, they can purchase grain. They live in a hut in a huge grassy field. The daughter develops a relationship with a man nearby. The jealous mother tries to subvert this relationship by telling the daughter that sex without marriage is sinful and she will go to hell. When the mother kills a peculiar samurai wearing a mask, her karma ripens swiftly.

The lighting in the latter half of the film is extraordinary and the ending is worth the wait.

Director: Kaneto Shindô

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sknsvtX68yw

NIGHT TIDE (1961)

March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 / jelliotthhp / Leave a comment

The trailer does not do this movie justice. Had this film not been included in a “cult classic” set of 6 and had I only seen the trailer, I would have gone no farther. But I saw a review that said, “the best mermaid movie I’ve ever seen.” Well that made me laugh, I mean, I can only think of a couple like the Tom Hanks/Darryl Hannah movie and a movie called Mermaids with Cher… the closest that one gets is girls in the bathtub.

This IS the best mermaid movie (unless you suffer from attention deficit in which case you’ll struggle, as relying on the atmosphere, the plot ambles along as a young sailor pursues a relationship with a peculiar and beautiful woman who is a seaside side show mermaid.) But is she really a mermaid? And worse, is she responsible for the deaths of two men–former boyfriends? The pace contributes to the woogie surreal world our sailor finds himself in… do Sea People exist? Is he in danger? And who is the strange witchy-woman who keeps showing up ?