reviews

Five Unforgettable Movies to Watch (But probably not late at night…. :)

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Some movies are only worth watching once. It’s been checked off your to-watch list, and you are ready to move on. These movies that I selected are SIMPLY NOT THAT. These particular movies have left an impression on me that I tend to revisit them more often than I want to admit. They also tend to linger in your mind long after watching, and you begin to ask a lot of questions about the movie. So much so that you ended up watching them the next day to see if you could gain a little clarity about what you had just watched. Here are five movies that sprang to mind:

Santa Sangre:

Santa Sangre (1989), directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky and starring Axel Jodorowsky, Guy Stockwell, and Thelma Tixou. The first time I watched Santa Sangre was in college, when I was looking for a movie with surrealist themes. Not really knowing which direction to head in, I used the internet and searched for the weirdest surrealist movies. I got a couple of promising leads, but Santa Sangre had the more unique title, so I decided to take a chance. And OMG, when I watched it for the first time, I literally went to rewatch it immediately. I had no idea what I just watched, but it intrigued me so much.

The plot is about a guy named Felix, a former circus performer who ran away from a mental hospital and returned to the armless arms of his mother. She happens to be running a super weird cult and forces Felix to kill for her because she wills it.

Director Alejandro Jodorowsky is no stranger to making weird surrealist movies. For a movie he made in 1966 called Fando y Lis.

When the movie premiered at the Acapulco Film Festival in 1968, it so upset viewers that a riot broke out, and it was immediately banned in Mexico.

And that is just one example of how bizarre and unique his films are.

Society (1989) directed by Brian Yuzna. Starring Billy Warlock.

Society is an interesting movie. I watched it due to a friend’s recommendation a decade ago. It is about a guy named Bill who feels like he is included in anything. He does not feel like part of his family; his friends look down on him and consider him a forever outsider. He definitely feels like there is some evil, hidden secret in the wealthy neighborhood he lives in. Unfortunately, little that Billy knows, his gut feelings on all of those were not wrong.

Belladonna of Sadness (1973):

Directed by Eiichi Yamamoto. Recommended by friend @astraleyez . A young girl gets abused by a low-life king and is then banned from her own town. She meets the devil on the outskirts and decides to make a deal with him regardless of the outcome. This is a very hard cartoon to watch, even if it’s in cartoon form.

Dead Ringers (1988): Directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jeremy Irons and Geneviève Bujold.

I am a big fan of vintage Cronenberg movies; I love The Brood, Videodrome, Rabid, and Crash. However, it was this movie that stuck in my mind image-wise. Cronenberg does body horror super well, and this movie is about two twin gynecologists who rebel against the fact that it is tough to tell one twin from the other. Their plan to pull off this charade was working until they both fell in love with the same woman.

Hellraiser (1988): directed by Clive Barker:

I am also a huge fan of Clive Barker. I enjoy his writing, and he has a fantastic way of developing very scary characters that leave a lasting impression. When I first saw all the cenobites on the screen, it made me realize that Clive Barker’s mind for creating such crazy leather-clad characters is AMAZING!!!! Pinhead literally stole the movie because he is the movie!!!

What other movies have left an impression on your mind? Share below!!!! Until next time

Source:

Youtube, IMDB, Wikipedia

Pinocchio’s disaster

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On February 7, 1940, The movie Pinocchio premiered at the Center Theater in New York City.

Walt Disney wanted to create a memorable premiere for this second animated movie. So he hired eleven little people to dress up as small Pinocchinos to stand atop the Pinocchio movie marquee.

The eleven little people were given a day’s worth of food and wine to stay there and waved to the guests as they walked into the theatre. However, as the day grew by the afternoon, the area on top of the marquee was getting incredibly hot for the eleven people there. They drank a day’s worth of wine by that point. They ended up getting drunk, took off all of their clothes, and started yelling swear words at the adults and children who came to see the movie.

The police eventually had to come, and the eleven people were physically removed by the police, who put them in pillowcases to restrain them.

Does anyone else have any weird movie premiere stories? Comment below!!

Until next time!

Source: Disney History Institute

Five Criterion Collection wants!

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Today is the last day of the B&N criterion collection sale. Here are my five recommendations if you still haven’t decided to get:

Risky Business, directed by Paul Brickman. Starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. Spine Number 1227.

Risky Business is one of my favorite Tom Cruise movies. In it, Cruise plays a high school student who seems bored with his everyday Suburban life. He meets Lana, who is involved in some interesting ordeals.

The Link to buy is here:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-risky-business-paul-brickman/3620241?ean=07155152997

Peeping Tom, directed by Michael Powell and starring Carl Boehm. He plays Mark, a photographer and filmmaker with some weird kinks.

The Link to buy is here:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-peeping-tom-michael-powell/1008654052?ean=0715515296113

Sid and Nancy is directed by Alex Cox and starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb. This movie is based on the rocky relationship between Sid Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.

The Link is here to buy: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-sid-and-nancy-alex-cox/3624169?ean=0715515201513

Cure was directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and starred by Koji Yakusho. I have been hearing so much about this movie. So this would be a blind buy for me!

The Link to buy is here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-cure-kiyoshi-kurosawa/3965569?ean=0715515278010

Claudine was directed by John Berry and starring James Earl Jones and Diahann Carroll. Claudine is a hard-working single mother with six kids in New York City and trying very hard to make life work. While trying to hold everything together, she meets a man in the least likely place.

The Link to buy is here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-claudine-john-berry/3862272?ean=0715515251815

What movies are on your to-buy list? Comment below!!!

Source: Barnes and Noble, Youtube.com. The Criterion Collection

Book of the Month: Mildred Pierce

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Earlier this month, I finished reading Mildred Pierce, written by James M. Cain. Cain has written other memorable books that were turned into movies, such as Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Serenade.

This was the first book I read by the author, but it was hard to choose which one of the author’s titles to start with. I am such a fan of the 1945 and 1981 movies The Postman Always Rings Twice.

However, I just finished a Mildred Pierce movie and miniseries binge. That it just made sense for me to finally read the novel. The movie and miniseries versions of Mildred Pierce offer different takes on the book, but both have outstanding acting. The movie, made in 1945, was directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, Jack Caron, and Ann Blyth. Joan Crawford played the lead role of Mildren Pierce, while Ann Blyth played her daughter Vera.

Joan Crawford was so good at portraying Mildred Pierce that she won an Oscar in 1946.

The miniseries was made in 2011 and was directed by Todd Haynes (one of my favorite directors!!). It starred Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce and Evan Rachel Wood as Veda.

Both adaptions are faithful to the book because they accurately make sure to have the viewer understand the rise and fall of Mildred Pierce. How hard it was for Mildred to find suitable work and how tough it was for her to become a businesswoman trying to survive during the Great Depression. This was one of the rare books that I sat down to read and did not move until I was done reading. This book was first published in 1941 by Knopf. When it was first published, many reviewers commented that it was “mild and tame” compared to the author’s other novels.

Personally, I am glad that I read this novel first from the author because when I was reading the book, it made me flash back to both the movie and miniseries adaptions. It also made me want to read other novels by the authors in the near future.

If you would like more information about the movie and the miniseries, I highly recommend this video by Be Kind Rewind. The video is below:

What books is everyone reading this month? Comment below!!!

Sources: Internet Movie Database, Youtube.