Maniac! (1980)

Countdown to Halloween: October 25, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This gory, violent splatter flick just proves why 95% of men from the late 70s and very early 80s all look like murderers and pedophiles. Joe Spinell as Frank is ridiculously creeptastic. He’s got huge mommy issues; I suppose having your hooker mother lock you up in a closet while she turned tricks will do that to a kid. He associates women with his mother, and since his mother’s dead, punishing every other woman in New York City will have to suffice. And why not take a souvenir? Each victim’s scalp adorns a mannequin in his hole of an apartment.

The dude is just plain freaky. Between the heavy breathing, the conversations with his mannequins, and the scene near the end when he puts on [presumably] a Red Wings hat, winds up a Christmas music box, and shoots a magazine picture of a woman on his wall, man… he makes me wonder how the hell I survived all those nights walking around lower Manhattan alone at ungodly hours. Truly scary.

The last scene was exceptionally bloody and gory, and I got a little shiver from it. I especially like how this movie used the red corn syrup instead of the too-red paint that a lot of movies substitute for blood. The corn syrup looks much more realistic.

See it on Netflix

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Countdown to Halloween: October 19, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

When this movie was released, Entertainment Weekly dubbed it “one of the 20 scariest movies of all time”. And it’s not really all that scary at first. But then you start to think about it. And then you think about it a bit more. And be damned if you’re not just a bit rattled by this guy. I mean, sure, you pretty much know Otis is a scumbag from the first second he’s on that screen. But Henry? I couldn’t dislike Henry. He comes across as slow, but not a scumbag. I felt sorry for him because he always seemed so uncomfortable and sad. The only time he seemed okay was when he was murdering someone. Except that by then, it was too late. I still felt bad for him. I liked the guy. Was it intended that way? Was the viewer supposed to like Henry? I’m not sure, but I certainly did.

And Henry’s apparent likability is what’s unsettling about him. He kills people! For no apparent reason! And you can’t help but like him! That’s not good. That’s unsafe. How many other people are there in this world, country, state, even town as me? How many people could kill and not think twice about it afterward?

So yeah. Movie… just a little bit scary. It doesn’t hurt that it just reeked of the show Unsolved Mysteries either.

See it on Netflix

Mario’s Story (2007)

Date Watched: August 20, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This is everything that drives me insane about the penal system in this country.

Don’t get me wrong… I think if you murder someone, you should be put to death. Except the problem here is that the justice system is more worried about looking good to the public than actually carrying out justice.

Mario was convicted of a crime based on eyewitness testimony alone. Once other eyewitnesses came forward after his conviction and sentence and years in prison… and they said that Mario couldn’t possibly have murdered anybody because he wasn’t standing where the original witness put him… the courts denied evidence with the same credibility to free him as it had to lock him up. Why? Because the prosecutors, investigators, judge, and jury don’t want the OJ Simpson complex hanging over their heads and their careers. You know what I’m talking about. OJ was guilty but for some reason, he got away with it. Well, that can NEVER happen again because everyone involved with that case looks like a moron and none of them had a good reputation after that. So now they’re going to make it look like the US justice cogs could never, EVER skip a peg and make a mistake ever again. So Mario, locked up for something he legitimately didn’t do… is denied freedom just so these jerks don’t look bad for screwing up.

WHAT. THE. HECK.

Ugh. Uggggggh!

Obviously this isn’t a post about Mario as much as it is about the film made about his story, but like I’ve said a million times: if a documentary evokes any substantial level of emotion, it’s a good film. It did its job.

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Nick of Time (1995)

Date Watched: July 30, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This was pretty decent. I like conspiracy films and thrillers. I love Christopher Walken. I especially love Johnny Depp, though this is definitely not what I’m used to seeing him in. He’s always done quirky films. In this one, his character had no… well… character. No flare. No little Johnny Depp touch.

Ah, well. It was still good.

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Fast Five (2011)

Date Watched: May 2, 2011
Source: Theatre

You can say whatever you want about the F&F franchise, but I love it. Granted, I haven’t seen 2 or 4, but I’m told that 2 is unwatchable and also unrelated to the rest of them. I still need to see 4, and I feel like I still need to try and watch 2.

But anyway, the first one is one of my favorite movies. It’s one of my big-time quotables, apparently. Especially drunk, so I’m told. But I’ve loved that movie since the first time I saw it. Then I saw 3… against my better judgment, since I HATE watching movies out of sequence. And I liked it quite a bit. I didn’t really want to see 5, since I hadn’t seen 4… and it seems as though I missed a few important details. So I really do need to see 4.

I loved 5. Something about F&F makes their heinous errors completely acceptable. Like in the first one. O’Connor overdoes it with the NOS, and that causes… his floor panel to fall out? And little things… like when Jesse’s looking under the hood of the Supra that Brian has towed in. He says, “2JZ, no shit!” when every Supra had that engine. Little things like that.

And there were huge errors like that in 5. I really wish I could point them out… but I don’t do spoilers, so I’ll just say this: The climax… the actual heist… is utterly ridiculous. That doesn’t mean I didn’t love it though.

Anywho, I guess my general point here is that I loved the movie. It’s hard to post about recent movies without spoilers and still get my point across… but… there it is.

Queue it on Netflix

Gran Torino (2008)

Date Watched: April 25, 2011
Source: redbox

Wow.

Of course I thought this was going to be another ho-hum car movie. I was delighted to find out that the movie really doesn’t have much to do with the car at all, nice as it is.

Clint Eastwood is so fun to watch. I am not by any means saying he’s a good actor. In fact, I don’t really think he is. I have no way of knowing, since he always plays the same character, more or less. But that also doesn’t mean he’s not fun to watch. And in this movie, it’s especially fun.

I don’t care what anyone says… the dude is funny. He’s an absolute curmudgeon, and the racism just makes it hysterical. Anyone who doesn’t think so is really just too sensitive. Hell, look at Thao and Sue. He calls Thao “zip” about a skillion times, and Sue and Thao just glaze over it. Nobody cares. In fact, Sue doesn’t let him fool her into believing he’s that much of an asshole. She knows there’s something good in there, and she finds it underneath all the piss, vinegar, and racial slurs. Those are all just a facade.

Point is, I freaking loved this.

Queue it on Netflix

The Bad Seed (1956)

Date Watched: March 22, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

Man, do I love old movies. The problem with old movies, usually, is that they’re predictable. This one was no different. You knew what was going to happen. You knew how it was going to happen.

And then, it didn’t happen.

Something else happened instead.

And you’re like, “WHOA! I didn’t see that coming for MILES!” And then you smile because, THE TWIST, though very short and pretty sweet, has surfaced again.

Queue it on Netflix

RoboCop (1987)

Date Watched: March 5, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

While I’m not sure how I feel about this — I definitely do not rate it up there with other 80s classics that I know and love — there were some memorable points:

1. “Bitches leave.”
2. *Bob Morton gets shot several times in the leg* “STOP IT!”
3. “come quietly or there will be… trouble.” “awwww… fuck you!”
4. When the giant shooter/walker thing falls down the stairs and squeals like a pig on the landing
5. *shoots giant gun* “I… LIKE IT!”
6. “Murphy! I’m a mess!”

But I think the best part about this movie is the fact that Dan O’Herlihy, better known as CONAL FREAKIN COCHRAN is in this movie!

Queue it on Netflix

Before and After (1996)

Date Watched: January 8, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This is a side of Meryl Streep I haven’t seen before. She’s always a strong female lead, almost from the beginning. But here, it seems she’s a different kind of strong. Granted, I haven’t seen a lot of Meryl Streep films, so I’m not going to elaborate a whole lot. All I’m going to say on that is for a good part of the film, she seems weak. In the background. Not in control. And that’s very unlike what I’m used to.

Otherwise…

Edward Furlong. Again. I really don’t like Edward Furlong. I can’t say it enough. He always looks stoned. He’s totally the “Keanu Reeves” of every film he’s in; all his characters are the same (I don’t agree with that assessment of Keanu Reeves, but it’s a well-known point of contention with his roles so I used it).

All of that said, I think it could have been done better. I really don’t have much else aside from that. It was ho-hum.

Queue it on Netflix

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

Date Watched: January 22, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

I’m all about order. I blog in the order I watched. Not this time. I couldn’t. I couldn’t write about Meryl Streep and Nic Cage after seeing this film, nor could I wait until I had calmed down before I wrote. I had to do it now.

And yet, I can’t find the words.

This film… gah. Well first off, because of the project, I’m less likely to pass over something that looks interesting. So while I was browsing through new stuff on Netflix, and the gorgeous cover art caught my eye, I skimmed the description. I’m a girl; I’m into all that heartstrings crap. I figured this would be a Lifetime movie sort of documentary, so I glanced at how many stars it had. Five stars. Wait, that can’t be right. Nothing EVER gets five stars. Maybe four and a portion of the fifth, but never five WHOLE stars. I queued it and went about my business.

Last night it caught my eye again, but my boyfriend was with me, and obviously, guys who shave their heads and wear steel toed boots aren’t into all that heartstrings, Lifetime movie crap, so I made a note to watch it today while I crocheted. About 3 minutes into the film, I realized that my assumption about all the Lifetime movie stuff was so far off that it wasn’t even on the map. I put down my crocheting.

This film is a documentary by a man named Kurt. His best friend Andrew was murdered by a bitter ex lover. She turns out to be four months pregnant with Andrew’s child. The story that unfolds is the most unthinkable nightmare you most likely couldn’t even imagine. I hate spoilers, but in this case, I refuse to say even another word about the actual story because it deserves every ounce of emotion it draws from anyone who watches it.

I couldn’t tear myself away. If I hadn’t been at my desk, at my job, I may have collapsed into sobbing fits. Very few films/plays have been able to evoke that from me, and this one was no different.

This is one of those films that by the time you’re through watching, you feel like you knew everyone personally. Like you want to pick up the phone and give David and Kate Bagby a call, the way you always do, until you realize you were just watching a film about total strangers. That sounds odd and maybe even creepy, but you’re a liar if you can say you’ve never been touched that way by someone you never actually knew; that someone’s story could bring you to your knees in just the relatively short time it took to soak it all in. Either that, or you don’t pay enough attention.

This isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re shaky in your faith in either God or mankind, I wouldn’t suggest watching. Unless of course, you’re looking for a definitive answer that’ll damn near solidify your stance on either of those things, good or bad. You’ll come to a conclusion, alright. Might not like it, but you’ll come to one.

This is a message that needs to get out. This is a film that needs to be watched. Actions need to be taken, and laws need to be changed. The death of Andrew Bagby and everything that followed, all the pain left in the wake, needs to be justified. If all this grief can be prevented for one other family, then none of it will be in vain.

I’m sure it all sounds cliche, but it’s the truth. I’m distracted, uncomfortable, touched. I want to get up and do something. But there’s not much I can do except write here on my little blog, hope someone reads it, finds it interesting enough to watch the film, and feels the same way I do. Then maybe they’ll write on their little blogs, and someone will read it, watch the film, write on their little blogs… and you get my drift. That’s the only way change happens.

Queue it on Netflix

Edit: I just unpaused the end, noticed there was a website, and in visiting that site, I discovered that just this past December, the law the Bagbys were fighting for has been passed.