Alienated (2021) – *½ Darryl Anka (nephew of Paul) worked as a special effects artist for some 30 years, specializing in models and miniatures and contributing to films as varied as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Aviator, and Stealth. He has also, for about 40 years now, claimed to channel “Bashar,” a non-corporeal consciousness…
Tag: 2021 in Film
The Weekly Gravy #127
Marlowe (2022) – *** Maybe it was the low expectations, but I’m a bit baffled as to just how weak the reviews for Marlowe have been. No, it doesn’t come near the noir classics it pays homage to – and it probably could’ve chosen a stronger source material than the 2014 novel The Black-Eyed Blonde…
The Weekly Gravy #126
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) – ***½ The World’s Fair Challenge isn’t so different from looking in the mirror and saying “Bloody Mary” three times – you say “I want to go to the World’s Fair” three times, prick your finger and smudge blood on your computer screen, and watch a strobing…
The Weekly Gravy #120
Chickens in the Shadows (2010) – *** You may have seen a video floating around the internet called “Taste the Biscuit,” in which a musical duo called Toasters ‘n’ Moose perform a song called, well, “Taste the Biscuit” in the middle of a suburban thrift store. Toasters (Estelle Piper) sings the song with a certain…
The Weekly Gravy #101
Me You Madness (2021) – Dreck Louise Linton, who wrote, directed, and stars in this film, is the wife of Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, who was previously involved in the film industry, mainly under the nebulous title of “executive producer.” Linton had a modest film career of her own, but has achieved…
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON (Film and Shorts) Review – ***
I had never seen or even heard of the Marcel shorts before hearing about the film and didn’t watch them until after seeing the film (my reviews of them to follow). I don’t know if that would’ve diminished or increased the confusion I felt upon seeing the trailer (and seeing it, and seeing it); it…
The Weekly Gravy #93
In light of the Supreme Court’s decision this morning, I think it only right to share a link to the Abortion Access Fund, if you wish to donate. Lightyear (2022) – *** Supposedly, viewers have been scratching their heads trying to figure out exactly what Lightyear is, but the film itself explains itself right off…
The Weekly Gravy #92
Zorns Lemma (1970) – **** First, we have a black screen, and the voice of a woman reading The New England Primer, a Puritanical work for children which the teaches the alphabet with couplets ranging from the inane (M: “The Moon shines bright/In time of night”) to the biblically unnerving (X: “Xerxes the great did…
The Weekly Gravy #91
Midnight (1934) – *** Although Midnight is best remembered for featuring one of Humphrey Bogart’s first major roles – such that, when the film was later reissued as Call It Murder, his billing was bumped from fifth to first – I was more intrigued by the premise, namely the moral dilemma that Edward Weldon (O.P….
The Weekly Gravy #89
Lux Æterna (2019*) – *** *Because Lux Æterna saw theatrical release in its native France in 2020, after premiering at the 2019 Cannes Festival, I’m counting it towards my 2020 awards. Lux Æterna is, arguably, to French art films what One Cut of the Dead was to Japanese horror; it depicts, in real-time, how an…
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