I canceled cable after 34 years. They became to ridiculous with their never-ending increase in rates. I've had an Amazon box for five years to watch movies but now I put one in each room, ordered Netflix and sling. We have to have the fast internet for my wife for she works from home. Saving $80 a month. It got to the point where plugging a cable from the wall into the tv wouldn't work and you had to order a $7/month box for each tv. $35/month on top of the$2 something. That's when I told them to turn it off. There was never anything on anyways. Fuck those cocksuckers.

Good for you, I would love to do that.

I plan on picking up one of those streaming devices and see how it works out for awhile.
If we like it I will cut the cable one day.

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT

My first introduction to Iranian cinema. A young man named Arash is trying to get his father off of drugs, while at the same time, he falls in love with a beautiful vampire. The amount of vampire movies I've seen lately has been completely coincidental I assure you. This film is kind of retro/homage in some ways and looks beautiful onscreen bathed in nothing but black and white. A slow burn, not overly gory or with a lot of action sequences, but a beautiful film regardless.

Rewatched THE WITCH and SUSPIRIA (2018) this weekend. THE WITCH is such a beautiful and simple movie. SUSPIRIA I actually enjoyed more after a second viewing, although I still prefer the original. I wouldn't mind seeing the rest of the trilogy be made although I haven't heard anything to that effect yet and I wouldn't hold my breath. It got good reviews but appears it brought in less than $7 million globally.

I watched Arlington Road and Mirrors over the weekend. Arlington Road was gripping and has a sucker punch of an ending. Mirrors fell apart a bit at the end, but it's still better than a lot of horror movies, featuring a unique premise with some well worked scares, good gore and a moody atmosphere.

ARLINGTON ROAD is an underrated film. I haven't seen it in years but it's great (especially that ending!)

Scream(1996)

Probably one of my favorite 90s slasher movies and Wes Craven films.

Yeah. I used to love when Scream would be on TV and my parents would let me stay up to watch it on a school night. Love the first couple Scary Movie movies, too. Got to see I want to say the second one in the cinema when I was way underage.

I think movies like Scream and Wes Craven's New Nightmare did an excellent job deconstructing the horror genre. Something guys like Jordan Peele are failing spectacularly to do at the moment with the shit they're coming out with. And something that Joss Whedon failed to do with that flaming sack of crap that was Cabin in the Woods.

By the way, Speed is one of my all time favorite movies and I just found out that Joss Whedon wrote practically all of the dialogue. I find that mindboggling to come to terms with. Guy obviously has a modicum of talent when he's not pandering to the lowest common denominator geeks who live in their parents basement.

SCREAM is one of my favorite movies of all-time. Not just horror movies, but movies in general. Solid film all around and IMO, probably the best and most important horror film of the last 25 years.

Speed was one of my favorite movies when it first came out. Must have rented and watched it about 100 times lol.

Big fan of the first Scary movie also, second was good too, then it went abit downhill after the Wayan brothers left.

Today I've just finished watching Rise Of The Footsoldier(2007)

Probably the most enjoyable and accurate out of all the movies on the Essex rettendon range rover murders.

Between yesterday and today I watched DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS and DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT. Both feature some of the same cast, which I'm a fan of. It appears with a lot of the giallo's I've seen recently, a lot of the same people are popping up. Nieves Navarro (aka Susan Scott) was absolutely a wonderful delight as the main star in each. However, the stories I felt were more complicated than they needed to be. I'm easy when it comes to giallo's: give me a masked killer, reveal who it is at the end and give them a good reason for doing it. Short and simple. For giallo's these were way more in depth than I thought they needed to be.

COLD PURSUIT

Liam Neeson is back at it again. Glad to see him still kicking ass at 66. Seriously, can everyone stop messing with this mans family because for those that do, they get dealt with. A humorous and at times bloody tale about a father who tracks down the people responsible for his sons death. I honestly enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would; however, the whole subplot in regards to White Bull and the Native Americans could have been scrapped and the film would have been tighter by about 20+ minutes. 6.5/10

I recommend the Scandinavia film In Order of Disappearance that Cold Pursuit is a remake of. It is good and the performances of Skarsgard in the lead role and Ganz in the role of the Serbian crime boss are unforgettable, with a good round out cast with two who had a breakout role after the movie.

I was wondering if the original was any good since this was a remake. Thanks for the feedback. Did you see COLD PURSUIT yet? If/when you do, I'd be curious how it stacks up to the original.

ST. AGATHA

Yes, I was torn whether or not to see this and while I was going to pass on it, I did see some (surprisingly) good reviews for it. There were some other not so favorable reviews as well and I fall in to that category. Where to begin? The film isn't so much a mess as they do flashbacks every so often to help fill in the gaps (although one character who's referenced twice was never made clear who she was but anyway). The film follows Mary, later renamed Agatha, in the convent she's run away to while pregnant in 1950's Georgia. Carolyn Hennesy does her best Nurse Ratched impression as Mother Superior and she's really the only redeeming part of the film. The "big reveal" at the end wasn't as surprising as you'd think as everything is pretty noticeable before it's reveled (although I went in a somewhat different way with the ending which I felt would have played better). This didn't get much marketing and for good reason. 4/10

THE PRODIGY

What I originally intended on seeing was this so I made it a double feature. I'm typically not a huge fan of child actors (they annoy me for some reason) but Jackson Robert Scott really gives a creepy and enjoyable performance. The movie was and wasn't what I thought it was going to be from the previews (without spoiling too much) but I did somewhat enjoy the boldness the film took with the story. A few jump scares but overall, again, you mostly see everything coming. A pass for theaters but might not be bad to catch via streaming. 5/10

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

From the previews, I was looking forward to this. Visually it's beautiful, but that's about it. The story and the world they created I just couldn't get myself in to and quite frankly, I was a little bored with it about midway through. A waste of talent including both Mahershala Ali and Jennifer Connelly (both of whom I'm a fan of) seemed robotic themselves with their performances. Christoph Waltz is his usually charming self and he's enjoyable, as it Rosa Salazar who plays Alita. Overall, disappointing. 6/10

HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U

Yes, another sequel that nobody knew they wanted (other than the studio apparently). I thought the whole horror GROUNDHOG DAY wrapped it up just fine the first time; however, after this, hopefully, they can finally put the franchise to sleep. Towards the beginning of the film the story tries to explain how other characters are now in this time loop and I don't feel like they succeeded in explaining it. They over thunk it but once you get past that, the story actually does have some heart to it, which I was surprised but appreciated. At times main star Jessica Rothe does really pull at your heartstrings. The killer was more obvious this time around, although they did use a part from the original script of part 1 that was later changed. It appears they went ahead with it anyway in the sequel. 5.5/10

I watched THE ROOM and THE DISASTER ARTIST for the second time yesterday. If you've never seen either, I would recommend them (or at least THE DISASTER ARTIST). THE ROOM is absolutely horrible but you'll get the references made from THE DISATER ARTIST if you see it obviously. A lot of people give Tommy Wiseau a hard time because of how terrible this movie turned out (THE ROOM that is). But I give the man credit. Yes, the movie is an absolute trainwreck but the man followed his dream and made his own movie. How many of us can truly say that? And, since it's release in 2003, the movie does have a cult following and Tommy has made a name for himself as a result of it.

FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY

I should probably begin this with a disclosure that I am a WWE fan and I was very glad to see this project get a serious and proper theatrical release with some name actors, specifically Nick Frost and Lena Headey. In saying that, this is your typical, feel good sports movie with nothing much really added to it and at times felt it was just another platform for WWE to market themselves to fans/potential new fans. The film follows a young woman Paige (real name Saraya Knight) and her brother Zak who grew up in a wrestling family. While WWE is briefly in England they both are invited to tryout. Paige is selected while her older brother is not. Paige has to move away from her family to train in the States and in striving to become a WWE Superstar, finds her true self in the process. Florence Pugh who plays Saraya/Paige does a great job displaying Paige's vulnerability and lack of self-confidence. Typically, I like Vince Vaughn's work but felt he was a little out of place with this role as the WWE trainer. Overall, I did enjoy this film and I would like to see more of these made as others have equally inspiring stories to tell. 6/10

Saw Green Book.

I had my reservations, what with it being an "Oscar bait" movie, but I must say it was pretty good. A nice, touching movie with excellent performances by the two leads.

I had no idea it was based on a true story and that Viggo Mortensen's character was based on the guy who played Carmine Lupertazzi Sr, in The Sopranos.

I still need to see it. I've heard good things but Vigo's Italian accent from the previews has been scaring me off of it honestly.

I just rewatched VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS today. Such a beautiful and underrated film. Lovely soundtrack, beautiful imagery and a lot of allegories at work here. If you're in to horror/fantasy, I highly recommend this! I watched it for the first time on the now defunct Filmstruck streaming service but the Criterion Collection is coming out with their own service on April 8 so you can track it down there.

GRETA

Greta, played by Isabelle Huppert, befriends Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) when Frances returns Greta's purse she left on a subway. The beginning kind of rushed through the story without really fleshing out the characters. Maybe a third of the way into the film Frances finds out Greta's up to no good and appears to leave these handbags all over the city, waiting for them to be returned. This film is about loneliness and loss, which is why initially both women confide in each other so much. Chloe's work I've somewhat enjoyed in the past but her movies can be hit-or-miss for me. I've been of fan of Maika Monroe's since I saw her in IT FOLLOWS but unfortunately for her, she's completely wasted in this film as Frances' roommate/the voice of reason. The only bright spot in the film is really Huppert who plays a very twisted and unhinged stalker. 5/10

Watched In the Heat of the Night last night. What a movie! Steiger's performance is the one that stands out for me. He is so underrated. His delivery is so unique. I don't know if he copied it, but Armand Assante delivers like he does. Both are just great.

I never considered Steiger as being underrated, Oli. Anyone who can hold his own against Marlon Brando in one of THE greatest cinema scenes of all-time cannot be underrated.

CAPTAIN MARVEL was pretty meh and uneventful. Mid-tier Marvel movie and when comparing female superhero's, I actually give DC the advantage thus far with WONDER WOMAN over this. The 90's nostalgia was overdone and was trying too hard to be cool and retro. Soundtrack at times felt out of place. 6/10

I just watched King of Thieves. It is a British film based on a real life heist which I had never heard about before. The hook is that the thieves/hoodlums who pulled it off were mostly elderly men who had all the normal aging issues of incontinence, low energy, diabetes, etc It's not a comedy though. Though the men may be old they are still dangerous and often quite mean. The film is full of serious award winning actors such as Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, and Ray Winstone. The film makes no allowances to American ears for British accents, cadence, and slang. Seemingly the plot stuck pretty closely to real life events. It might have been a more entertaining film had it diverged more from reality. Still, it's always a pleasure watching people like Caine and Broadbeat play off of each other.

US

Expectations were high going in to this after Jordan Peele knocked his debut out of the park with GET OUT. And while the latter story has an element of suspension of disbelief to it in order for it to work, the same is true for US. However, this is one I could not buy in to. In GET OUT the element of the story that required buying in too was rather small and almost insignificant in the grander scheme of the film. With US, so much of the story was built upon this suspension that if you didn't buy in to it, you're going to have a bad time. I applaud Peele for his originality and I'm glad to see him devoting so much time to the horror genre and his attempts to bring fresh material to the table. I just hope he isn't a victim of his own success and he can develop a film more in tune with his first outing, as this was not a worthy successor in my opinion. 5.5/10

DUMBO was the warm, heartfelt, family movie you expect it to be coming from Disney. Dumbo himself looked fantastic on the big screen. Great CGI. This is my first of their recent live action, formerly cartoon releases. I'll check out ALADDIN and THE LION KING later this summer as well. 6.5/10

I just read your reviews to my wife.

She wants to see DUMBO but she’s going to pass on US.

Thanks i12, we always enjoy your reviews and love when you score them.

Thanks DP, glad you enjoy them. Going to see HOTEL MUMBAI later this morning. I'll let you know how it is.

HOTEL MUMBAI was a difficult film to watch at times. Overstayed it's welcome a little bit (runtime of 122 minutes). The Armie Hammer storyline was hamfisted in to the story, which honestly, could have been done without and still come off just as good. 6/10