Amy
10 March 2019: The Hole in the Ground
Amy
2 March 2019: Appropriate Behavior
Amy
1 March 2019: Greta
Amy
27 February 2019: Piercing
Amy
25 February 2019: The Tenant

13 September 2018: Mandy

A psychedelic revenge picture with a sick score & bravura performances by Nic Cage & Linus Roache. It’ll be too slow for general audiences, but I enjoyed the crap out of it even before Nic Cage got to go buck wild. It looked really lovely on a big screen, but if you go that route you might want to treat yourself to an edible. They showed so many damn trailers that I was not the least bit stoned by the time the feature started.

10 September 2018: What Keeps You Alive

It worked so well! Until it didn’t. Suffered from the same problem that ruined Unsane - the director couldn’t quit while he was ahead. For a good hour & 15 mins he had a great, intimate little thriller going, about that leap of faith a person takes when they couple up, & how you can never completely know your significant other. A dozen pointless twists & turns later & we’re left with a jumbled mess of a film that doesn’t know what it wants or what it’s about. Such a shame, especially since Minihan keeps improving in technical quality with each new movie he makes. The continuous shot at the beginning is especially impressive here. Unfortunately, that style & polish, & even the raw & honest performances by the two leads, are not enough to rescue this from its ridiculous story.

9 September 2018: Scotty & the Secret History of Hollywood

Rather than a rehashing of the tell-all book, this doc is a profile of the author with all his quirks. I went in expecting a fun, dishy movie, & ended up being moved to tears by Scotty’s story. We younger gays may think we have it rough, but thankfully we’ll never have to experience the kind of discrimination Scotty’s generation did. I’d never thought about all the gay men who fought in WWII, which is incredibly ignorant of me, considering how many Americans went over there. I’m grateful to this movie for pointing out my ignorance.

5 September 2018: Ghostland

As a bloody mainstream horror movie it’s decent - much better & more interesting than your Conjuring universe/standard teen horror fare. As a Pascal Laugier movie, though, it’s pretty disappointing. Even though he pulls off the gimmick pretty well, the movie doesn’t have much else going for it. I’m starting to worry that maybe Martyrs was just a fluke.

21 August 2018: The Miseducation of Cameron Post

I like But I’m a Cheerleader, don’t get me wrong, but this is the type of movie we need about gay conversion camps. Poor Christian kids, man. I can attest that growing up queer in the 90s sucked, but how much worse must it have been for these Christian kids? I’m glad this movie exists, & I’m glad it ended on the note it did. I cared about these kids, & I wanted them to be alright. The boy from Super Dark Times was particularly affecting. The title character here is a bit tough to read, but I can’t ding the movie too much for that. She doesn’t know who she is yet, after all. I like Desiree Akhavan’s style - it’s smart but not glib, & she has empathy for all her characters. 
Off-topic, but I want to have my own gay camp for little queers with religious parents, where they could be themselves & not worry about disappointing anyone. Listen up, shite Christian parents! If you won’t love your kids the way they are, then send them to me & I’ll love them for you. You don’t deserve them.

15 August 2018: The Meg

The only reason I’m even giving this one star is because I wanted to see a scene where Jason Statham rides the giant shark out of the water & it happened. Did they think it was an homage to Jaws to not show the shark for the first hour? You don’t attempt that shit in a big budget blockbuster unless you have great writing & a capable director, & this had neither. John Turtletaub might be one of my least favorite directors ever. Once the fun scenes started happening the movie had already been ruined. Also, they kept trying to create suspense from the characters being down in the water & not knowing where the shark is until it pops out at them. IT’S THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SHARK, HOW DOES IT KEEP SNEAKING UP ON YOU??

14 August 2018: Ex Machina

Another one I’d been putting off for ages, I guess because I was afraid it was depressing? Wow is this good. I don’t normally give a movie five stars after a first watch, but there is just nothing that they don’t absolutely nail here. Acting is great, especially Oscar Isaac, it looks beautiful, & most importantly, it does exactly what it sets out to do, & keeps us on the chain the whole time. I’ll always love a movie that stays out ahead of me & controls my understanding of what’s going on, & that’s exactly what this one did. Alex Garland was able to get that awesome Black Mirror gut punch of understanding out of a feature-length film, which is no small feat. In conclusion, daaaaaamn.

12 August 2018: BlacKkKlansman

I would’ve liked more insight into Ron, & the plot meandered a bit. Other than that, it was fabulous. Loved that dance sequence at the club, & loved the way the the three important monologues in the movie were presented. Also loved how uncomfortable my audience was when the upside down flag appeared on screen at the end. Even though they cheered as events unfolded in the movie, they still bristled at that. Shows how much power symbols have.

11 August 2018: The Strangers

I’m back & forth between 2 1/2 & 3 stars on this one. Had only seen snippets previously, & since it’s on so many lists of good horror I figured I needed to see it. Meh. Could be just that I don’t like home invasion movies very much. I get too annoyed by lapses in logic to enjoy them. Like for example why oh why must they use that “shing” sound effect every time a knife is picked up? Knives don’t just make that noise. It’s like foley artists have never picked up a knife before! Ugh, whatever. I hate getting all picky & Comic Book Guy about movies.