It always seems to surprise people when I admit stuff like this, but until now I had never seen WYATT EARP. And when I was getting ready to watch it and do this review I worried I was gonna get myself into trouble because it came out six months after TOMBSTONE, and lived and died in its comparisons to TOMBSTONE, so I know everyone in the comments is gonna want to talk about that. And the thing is I still haven’t seen TOMBSTONE either. Yeah, I know. I’ll get around to it.
Initially I thought I should do that first, but then I realized it was a unique opportunity to be the one guy watching WYATT EARP on its 30th anniversary with zero instinct to compare and contrast to TOMBSTONE. I have been preparing three decades to be this specific guy. (read the rest of this shit…)
Request: please be extra careful in the comments not to give away that one surprise thing where people might see it by accident.
SPLIT is M. Night Shyamalan’s odd little thriller about three teenage girls abducted from a parking lot and kept locked in a room by a man calling himself Dennis (James McAvoy). Terror turns to confusion when he starts coming to the room talking different, acting different, claiming to be different people. It turns out Dennis is just one of 23 personalities in this guy, and they don’t all necessarily support what he’s doing.
Logically you assume this kidnapper is gonna be a rapist or killer, and these may be true, but for now he’s being told to cool it by “Patricia,” a female personality who shows up occasionally to make the girls mayo sandwiches and assure them “he’s not supposed to touch you.” Oh, okay, that’s comforting. He also shows up as “Hedwig,” an 11 year old boy who likes to dance and listen to Kanye West and giggles a little when he warns them that “The Beast” is coming.
I haven’t always been on board for McAvoy (WANTED, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN, X-MEN FIRST CLASS), who’s obviously a good actor but seems weirdly prone to playing heroes who are a little too douchey to completely root for. But here he’s truly great. Each character has a different voice, accent and body language – you can recognize them even before he speaks, even if he doesn’t change his clothes. (Though he usually does. He seems to be very fast at it.) McAvoy is clearly having alot of fun with this, taking his acting skills and doing a bunch of donuts and wheelies and shit. Going off jumps. (read the rest of this shit…)
When one of us says “Carrie,” I bet we all think of the same thing: Brian DePalma’s iconic 1976 film, an American classic. It’s the first and still-second-best movie based on a Stephen King book, so of course we could also be talking about that 1974 novel (the fourth that King wrote, but first he got published). Or we could be talking about the 2002 made-for-TV version, or the 2013 remake, or I suppose the 1952 William Wyler movie which in my opinion is not based on King’s book. Anyway this week I’d like to take a look at the different incarnations of King’s story. (Not the failed Broadway musical though. I never saw it.)
I’m assuming I don’t have to tell you the story. And then I’m telling you the story just in case. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek, PRIME CUT) is a shy, awkward girl who already doesn’t fit in at her high school before she has her first ever period in the locker room shower after gym class and thinks she’s bleeding to death, much to the amusement of all her classmates. Yeah, thanks for the heads up on that menstruation stuff, abusive and mentally ill Christian fundamentalist mother (Piper Laurie, RETURN TO OZ, THE FACULTY).
The other girls get in trouble from their gym teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley, THE HAPPENING) for pelting Carrie with tampons and chanting at her. One of the girls, Sue Snell (Amy Irving, THE FURY) feels guilty about it and convinces her greatest-American-boyfriend Tommy Ross (William Katt, SUPER) to take Carrie to the prom and show her a good time. Another girl, Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen, ROBOCOP), goes the other route, she’s not allowed to go to the prom, and plans a cruel prank to avenge Carrie. Meanwhile, womanhood has unlocked in Carrie a freak power to control objects with her mind. So if she gets humiliated again, perhaps on stage at the prom to name one possible scenario, she’s not gonna cower in fear this time. There will be Hell to pay. (read the rest of this shit…)
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Recent commentary and jibber-jabber
VERN on The Client: “I can see why you would count TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7, but I think that’s different, it had the…” Jul 26, 16:36
hurtado on The Client: “Y’all keep saying these things went away, but exec’s are still greenlighting Aaron Sorkin scripts. Now it’s time for ANOTHER…” Jul 26, 15:33
Skani on True Lies (30th anniversary revisit): “No lies detected. Thank you for these words and for your patience with me as I try to wake up…” Jul 26, 13:56
CJ Holden on Lassie (1994): “At some point they were adapting so many TV shows, they made fun of that in the CHARLIE’S ANGELS movie!” Jul 26, 12:28
Mr. Majestyk on True Lies (30th anniversary revisit): “Skani: This is why I have a problem with the term “woke.” It’s past tense. It indicates the completion of…” Jul 26, 12:20
Charles on Lassie (1994): “It is interesting upon reflecting how much remakes and IP were already a big part of Hollywood already in the…” Jul 26, 12:17
CJ Holden on Huda’s Salon: “I’m notoriously bad when it comes to giving feedback, but I’m gonna check it out too, Glaive. (Just beware of…” Jul 26, 07:17
Bill Reed on Huda’s Salon: “Vern, keep telling it like it is. Also, this movie sounds like a good one. Glaive, very interesting project. I…” Jul 26, 07:09
Skani on True Lies (30th anniversary revisit): “The historical record will show that James Bond was a darker-skinned Middle Eastern man, whereas the Bond films have whitewashed…” Jul 26, 06:53
Bert on Huda’s Salon: “Hey no worries on not every entry being a winner, we are all here reading Vern’s reviews anyways. ;)” Jul 26, 05:56
Kaplan on True Lies (30th anniversary revisit): “So no one can point to anything specifically racist in any of the Brosnan or Dalton Bond movies?” Jul 26, 05:22
Dreadguacamole on Lassie (1994): “By the time this came out I wouldn’t be caught dead watching it. The show was a perennial where I…” Jul 26, 04:58
Mr. Majestyk on The Client: “Wait, are you telling me there were OTHER books? Entire other genres even? Wow, what a fascinating rebuttal! You have…” Jul 26, 03:54
CJ Holden on Lassie (1994): “I just remembered something from the depths of my childhood: There was not just Lassie, but also Bessy, who was…” Jul 26, 00:56
Pacman2.0 on Lassie (1994): “The PS2 game is actually based (well, “based”) on the 2005 LASSIE, the back-to-its-roots (geographically and tonally) CASINO ROYALE-style reboot/re-adaptation…” Jul 25, 23:28