Category: Movies

“Barbarian” (2022) Written and Directed by Zach Cregger, starring Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård & Justin Long / Z-View

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Barbarian (2022)

Director:  Zach Cregger

Screenplay:  Zach Cregger

Stars:  Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake, J.R. Esposito, Derek Morse and Zach Cregger.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Tess Marshall (Campbell) arrives late one rainy night to the home she’s rented. Tess is in town for a job interview.  Surprisingly, she finds the house has been double-booked.  The other renter is named Keith (Skarsgård).  After unsuccessfully trying to reach the rental office, Tess decides to get a hotel room.  When she’s unable to find any available, she learns there’s a big convention in town.  Keith suggests that they both stay in the house.  Although a little concerned about Keith at first, Tess feels comfortable enough to stay the night.  Keith takes the couch and Tess the bedroom with the door locked.

The next morning Tess and Keith leave for the day.  Tess is shocked by the condition of the neighborhood.  Every house on the block is deserted and dilapidated.    After her interview, Tess returns to the house.  Keith isn’t back yet.  As Tess is checking out the place, she accidentally locks herself in the basement.  Looking for another way out, Tess discovers a hidden room.  In the room is a dirty, bloody mattress and a camcorder.  Tess is starting to freak out when she hears Keith has returned…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Writer-director Zach Cregger intentionally made Barbarian‘s tone feel like two different films.  The first half is “a Fincher movie” while the second is like “a Raimi movie…”.   This creates an interesting juxtaposition.  In the first half of the film, Tess doesn’t trust her instincts enough to leave.  She then makes poor decisions, but for good reasons.  Cregger lets it all play out slowly and as Tess begins to think the situation is okay, we as an audience still have doubts.  When things reach a climax, Cregger breaks away to introduce a character named AJ (Long).

At first this is very disorienting.  Then it becomes clear that AJ’s story ties in to what’s happening with Tess.  In fact, AJ will soon find himself in the same danger as Tess.  When a character is introduced late in a film, he/she is often the hero who will save the day.  Not so, here.

Not only did Cregger change up character expectations, but this is where his filmmaking style changes.  Things move quicker and we’re no longer in a psychological thriller, but a full blown horror movie.  Hats off to Cregger for having faith in himself (and his audience) to make such a move.

Not only is there a disparity in the tone of Tess and AJ’s stories, but their characters as well.  Tess made poor decisions to help another, while AJ makes poor decisions for selfish reasons.  The contrast between the characters as well as the way their stories are shown are as different as, uh, up and down.  ; )

Georgina Campbell is an actress that I hadn’t seen before.  She’s excellent.  I’ll be watching for her in the future. Bill Skarsgård hits all the right notes.  Is he the nice guy he wants us to believe or is he a monster who has Tess fooled?  Justin Long plays against type and does it well.  The real star of the show is writer/director Zach Cregger,  Barbarian is his first feature and he executed it with style.  I’m excited to see Cregger’s plans for his next film.

Oh, and if you think you’ve figured out how the movie plays out from this review… you haven’t.

Barbarian earns 4 of 5 stars.

“King of the Zombies” (1941) Starring Mantan Moreland & Dick Purcell / Z-View

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King of the Zombies (1941)

Director:  Jean Yarbrough

Screenplay:  Edmond Kelso

Stars:  Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury,  Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer and Marguerite Whitten. 

Tagline:  HUMAN SACRIFICES! SAVAGE TORTURE! VOODOO RITES!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

1941.  World War II is raging across Europe.  James “Mac” McCarthy (Purcell) is flying his small plane from Cuba.  With McCarthy is his valet, Jeff Jackson (Moreland) and his buddy, Bill Summers (Archer).  A terrible storm blows them off course.  Running low on fuel, they pick up a transmission in a foreign language.  They spot a small island and although banged up, survive a crash landing.

Dr. Miklos Sangre (Victor) lives on the island with his wife, Alyce (Stacey), and his many servants.  Sangre invites Mac, Jeff and Bill into his mansion.  Sangre shows Mac and Bill respect, but Jeff is treated like one of the servants.  Jeff quickly picks up that something is off with Dr. Sangre. There are strange things taking place on the island.  Will Jeff be able to convince Mac and Bill?  And if they do believe Jeff will it be too late?

King of the Zombies was originally conceived as a straight up horror film.  Bela Lugosi was announced to star.  With the success of Bob Hope’s The Ghost Breakers, King of the Zombies was re-written as a comedy.  Mantan Moreland’s character was added.  The producers were unable to get Lugosi.  Their second choice was Peter Lore.  He was also unavailable, so they went with Henry Victor.  Victor is excellent as the creepy foreign agent.

The real star of King of the Zombies is Mantan Moreland.  He is excellent as the scared, but perceptive sidekick (who steals the show).  Marguerite Whitten who appeared with Moreland in Mr. Washington Goes to Town and Lucky Ghost, is a welcome addition as a source of information and Mantan’s love interest.  Madame Sul-Te-Wan makes a believable voodoo priestess.

King of the Zombies is a low budget “B” picture that is heads and shoulders above most of the same type films of this era.  If you’re a fan of the genre, you should enjoy King of the Zombies.

King of the Zombies earns 4 of 5 stars.

“The Abominable Dr. Phibes” Alt. Poster by John Dunn!

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Once a week Joblo.com posts Awesome Art We’ve Found Around the Net.  As you can imagine, they post awesome art that they, well, you get the idea.

I always enjoy seeing what JoBlo has found because with each post they list the artist’s name and a link to more of his/her art.  If you check it out you’ll discover amazing artists like John Dunn who did The Abominable Dr. Phibes piece above. I actually like Dunn’s poster better than the movie!

“Idle Roomers” (1944) Starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Idle Roomers (1944)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay:  Del Lord, Elwood Ullman

Stars:  Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Duke York, Christine McIntyre and Vernon Dent

Tagline: None.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Moe, Larry and Curly are bellmen at an upscale hotel.  When Mr. and Mrs. Leander check in, the boys only see Mrs. Leander.  Not knowing she has a jealous husband, they fight over helping her to her room.  When the husband arrives, there’s trouble.  And even more trouble when the wolfman he has caged gets loose!

Curly does most of the heavy-lifting in this one (and I’m not just talking about the Leander’s luggage).  Any time you have the boys running out of their minds with fear from monsters, you’re guaranteed laughs.

Idle Roomers earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Lucky Ghost” aka “Lady Luck” (1942) Starring Mantan Moreland & F.E. Miller / Z-View

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Lucky Ghost aka Lady Luck (1942)

Director:  William Beaudine

Screenplay:  Lex Neal, Vernon Smith

Stars:  Mantan Moreland, F.E. Miller, Maceo Bruce Sheffield and Napoleon Whiting. 

Tagline:  A Thriller-Diller Laff Sensation Feature!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Washington (Moreland) and Jefferson (Miller) are down-on-their-luck friends looking for an opportunity.  When they meet a couple of rich men standing by a limo, they learn that the driver has gone for gas.  Washington entices the men into a dice game.  By the time the driver has returned, Washington has won all of the men’s money, their fancy clothes and the car!

Washington and Jefferson have the driver take them to a nearby country club.  The club is run by a crook named Dr. Brutus Blake (Sheffield).  Blake invites Washington to play in his private gambling room.  There he plans to swindle Washington out of all his cash using crooked dice.  What Blake doesn’t know is that ghosts are watching and don’t like what they’re seeing.

The movie really takes off once Mantan begins playing craps in the club.  He’s hilarious when he’s forced to roll using dice he knows will cause him to lose.  Lady Luck isn’t as funny as Mr. Washington Goes to Town, but this semi-sequel has its moments.

Lucky Ghost aka Lady Luck earns 3 of 5 stars.

“The Northman” (2022) starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman & Claes Bang / Z-View

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The Northman (2o22)

Director:  Robert Eggers

Screenplay:  Sjón, Robert Eggers

Stars:  Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe.

Tagline:  Conquer your fate.

The Plot…

Amleth (Skarsgård) is a boy destined to become King.  That changes when Amleth’s father, King Aurvandil War-Raven (Hawke) is brutally murdered.  Amleth watches in shock as his Uncle, Fjölnir (Bang) kills his father!  As Fjölnir carries Amleth’s mother (Kidman) away, he orders his men to find and kill Amleth.  Amleth escapes and vows to avenge his father and mother…

Years later Amleth has grown into a strong Viking warrior and is now ready to take his vengeance.

Thoughts (Beware of spoilers)…

The Northman‘s trailer led me to believe it would be a great adventure/revenge film with a little Viking mythology thrown in.  It turned out to be an interesting adventure/revenge film with quite a bit of Viking mythology.  There’s stuff like interactions with a Seeress and he-witch, prophetic dreams, rescue from chains by ravens, and a Valkyrie from Valhalla.  For me, a little of that goes a long way.

Alexander Skarsgård makes a scary, believable Viking… especially in full blown warrior mode.  Ethan Hawke’s role could best be described as a cameo.  A small amount of screen time, but his character’s death sets everything in motion.  Then again, if Ethan Hawke’s screen time amounts to a cameo, I’m not sure what you’d call Willem Dafoe’s role as a fool.  Claes Bang and Nicole Kidman make worthy villains, but are they truly the “bad guys”?

One of the interesting aspects is that for the whole movie, Amleth wants to avenge his mother and father.  He sees his father brutally murdered and his mother carried off by his father’s killer.  When Amleth, as an adult, meets his mother we learn that she was once a slave; that Amleth’s father raped and forced her into marriage.  Further it was she who convinced Fjölnir to kill her husband and take her away,  She wasn’t screaming in fear as Fjölnir carried her off, she was laughing!  Amleth’s father wasn’t the great man he (and we) had been led to believe!  So is it heroic when Amleth kills his mother and her son by Fjölnir?  And when Fjölnir learns of their deaths, and challenges Amleth to battle, isn’t Fjölnir as much of a hero as Amleth?  Just some things to think about…

The Northman earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Angel’s Alley” (1948) Starring Leo Gorcey and The Bowery Boys / Z-View

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Angel’s Alley (1948)

Director:  William Beaudine

Screenplay:  Edmond Seward, Tim Ryan, Gerald Schnitzer

Stars:  Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, William ‘Billy’ Benedict, David Gorcey, Nestor Paiva, Benny Bartlett,  John Eldredge and Mary Gordon.

Tagline:  The Bowery Boys Make It Rough On Racketeers!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Slip Mahoney (Gorcey) learns that his cousin is being pressured into stealing cars for Tony Locarno (Paiva), a local crime boss.  Slip decides that the best way to get his cousin out is for Slip to break in… to Locarno’s gang.  Slip will then learn Locarno’s set-up and call the police.  That’s the plan, but since this is a Bowery Boys’ movie, we know how their plans work out…

Angel’s Alley earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Vertical Freedom” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster and trailer for Vertical Freedom will freak out anyone afraid of heights.  I’d check this out when it comes to streaming.

Directed by: Doug Lee

Synopsis: Vertical Freedom highlights six diverse tower climbers who overcome personal struggle and everyday danger to perform extraordinary work at very high levels to connect us all. It chronicles the triumphs, challenges, and tragedies of tower climbers Robert Gallegos, Sean Gilhooley, Andrew Lealofi, Ky Nguyen, Kelsey Olson, and Angelo Wiggins as they traverse the country and work at extreme elevations to enable connectivity including breathtaking aerial footage of some of the most hard-to-reach communication towers in the United States.

“Hot Water” (1924) Starring Harold Lloyd / Z-View

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Hot Water (1924)

Director:  Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor

Screenplay:  Thomas J. Gray, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan, John Grey

Stars:  Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Josephine Crowell, Charles Stevenson and Mickey McBan. 

Tagline:  A cyclonic comedy of newlyweds and meddling relatives!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Hubby (Lloyd) is a confirmed bachelor who cannot understand someone wanting to get married.  In his dash to get to a wedding on time, Hubby knocks down a woman (Ralston).  As he helps her to her feet, their eyes meet… and the next thing you know they’re married.  What follows are three vignettes of Hubby’s married life.

As Hubby heads home from work, Wifey asks him to pick up a “few” things from the store. While at the store Hubby wins a live turkey.  Hubby has a tough time making it to the trolley and home with more groceries than he can carry and a live turkey!

When Hubby’s mother-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew show up unexpectedly, Hubby decides to take them for a ride in his new car.  Runs-ins with other autos and the police are just part of the fun.

The third episode involves his sleepwalking mother-in-law, a potential murder and possible ghosts!

The segments were hit and miss for me.  I liked the third episode the best.

Hot Water earns 2 of 5 stars.

“Mr. Washington Goes to Town” (1941) Starring Mantan Moreland & F.E. Miller / Z-View

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Mr. Washington Goes to Town (1941)

Director:  Jed Buell, William Beaudine (uncredited)

Screenplay:  Lex Neal from a story by Walter Weems

Stars:  Mantan Moreland, F.E. Miller, Maceo Bruce Sheffield and Marguerite Whitten. 

Tagline: The First All Colored Cast Feature Comedy Ever Made!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Wallingford (Miller) and Schenectady Jones (Moreland) are buddies serving time in the county jail.  Wallingford sees a newspaper article about a rich man who died and left his hotel to any living relative that he may have had. Since the man’s last name was Jones and he was from the same area as Schenectady, Wallingford asks his buddy if he may have been related to the rich old man.  The two discuss the life of luxury that would come from being a rich hotel owner.  As Schenectady falls asleep he dreams…

Miller and Moreland can be favorably compared to Abbott and Costello.  Both duos are funny.  Miller, like Abbott is the brains of the two and takes advantage of his partner.  The difference is that Miller is more of a true friend.  Mantan Moreland is one of the most under-rated comedians in Hollywood.  He has great timing and his line and non-verbal reactions are priceless.

The set-up of owning a hotel presents great opportunities for gags as different guests arrive.  We get a magician, a Lonesome Ranger, a guest with a gorilla, an invisible man, and more.  Each different arrival provides laughs.  The main storyline involves Brutus Blake (Sheffield) looking for money hidden somewhere in the hotel and hoping that midnight arrives before Moreland can pay the balance owed on the hotel’s mortgage.

Mr. Washington Goes to Town earns 4 of 5 stars.