007 Video Essay Project-Episode 1 "Dr. No"

 

This is the first entry from the Film Pasture on the LAMB, for my Shepherd's Pie Monthy Posting on the James Bond Films. 

TCM Film Festival Recap (2026)

 Day One

Thursday April 30th was the opening night of the TCM Film Festival,  and as  become our custom, we had the Essential pass which allowed us to go to the opening night Premiere and walk the red carpet. The feature was Barefoot in the Park from 1967 starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. It was chosen as a tribute to Robert Redford who passed last year and Jane Fonda herself showed up as the guest to talk about her experience making the movie. While I am not a huge fan of Jane Fonda, I did think that her presentation was sweet and heartfelt about her co-star. 

She mentioned how she had had a crush on him and would try to convince him that they should have an affair. I'm not sure she was really joking. She also told the story of how all the secretaries at the studio looked out the door and down the hallway when Redford was walking down the pathways of the studio.  

The movie is a light fluffy romantic comedy from playwright Neil Simon, and it had its share of crazy characters and oddball situations, and there were plenty of laughs. I know I saw the movie back in the 1970s at some point probably on television, but I had very little memory of it except that their apartment was sort of dismal and small. Redford had a very nice touch with the comedy elements and he even does kind of a silly dance as part of the story. I think there's a restored 4K Blu-ray coming, and I will probably pick that up just to make sure I have it in my collection.

We were originally going to stay for a second movie but we got hungry and decided to make a late evening visit to Canter's Delicatessen for a sandwich and some cheesecake to take home to Allison.

Day Two

The El Capitan theater usually hosts an animated film from the Disney Vault on the first full day of the TCM Film Festival, this year it was ”Alice in Wonderland" which was pretty surreal anytime you see it. Mario Cantone was the host and he was delightfully silly and fun and talking about the film. His expert guest was Andreas Deja , a legendary animator from Disney Studios who has worked on dozens of Disney films since the 1980s.  They talked about the things that inspired the movie and the fact that it had been one of the things Walt Disney had wanted to do from the very start. Of course there was also a discussion of how the movie finally started making money when we got to the Psychedelic era of the 60s and hippies under the influence made the film a hit.

We got locked out of “Letty Linton”, because Alice in Wonderland got out just 15 minutes before this long lost Joan Crawford film was to screen at the Egyptian. We did get in line and get a queue card but there was no way we were going to get into the film. The Theater was completely packed. So we went and had lunch in the car in the parking garage at Hollywood and Highland, and then went up for the second film of the day, which was “Dangerous Liaisons”.  

The star of the film, Glenn Close, had just gotten her feet and handprints done in the courtyard at the Chinese Theater, and she stayed over to talk about this movie. She did have some interesting information about the process, including the fact that all of her scenes were shot well after everybody else had completed their work. She had given birth just 7 weeks before and was still on maternity leave before she came to Europe to film her part of the movie. She talked about how she was unsure that John Malkovich was going to cut it as a romantic lead , but she ultimately decided that he was definitely going to work in the film.

It's easy to forget that both Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves are also in the movie, they play secondary characters and they were both quite good despite the usual criticism that Keanu gets for playing a character in a period piece. There was a little bit of a discussion about the ending of the film, and Glenn Close revealed that they did shoot a guillotine execution, but that that was ultimately abandoned for the disturbing silent treatment ending that finishes off the film now.

The movie is a tour de force for both Close and John Malkovich, and it was certainly deserving of the awards that it received and the ones it was considered for.

Next on the agenda is just one of the most delightful moments of the festival. The presentation of the 1996 film “That Thing You Do”. This has always been a personal favorite, and it tells a great story behind one of those one hit wonders that made up pop music in the '60s and '70s, in this case though one that was entirely invented for the movie. The two guests were Johnathon Schaech and Kevin Pollock, who both explained how they had been cast and some of the contributions that they made to the way the story was told. The writer-director of the film is Tom Hanks, who also plays the part of record company executive Mr. White. 

Schaech explained that when he went in for his audition he improvised the snapping fingers, hand on the ear and delivery to an invisible microphone when his character says “I quit”. It was his idea to present it as if it was a song that he's walking away from. He also literally walked away when he finished his line and Tom Hanks had to chase him down in the hallway to get him back. He said that that is the point at which he knew he was going to get the part.  Pollock on the other hand had worked with Tom Hanks on his Apollo Mission miniseries, so they had a previous relationship. Again, the actor was given quite a bit of leeway into how his character was going to be played. People sometimes mistake him for a DJ but he's actually a local businessman who does his own commercials on the radio and that's why the audience is familiar with him. Pollock said that Hank's told him to do whatever he wanted with the character, and Kevin  played it very broadly with some cartoonish dancing and movements and oddball vocal delivery. He thought for sure Hanks was going to call him on it and ask him to tone it down, but he said Tom was just fine with it and it ended up in the film. This presentation and the conversation that followed the movie were highlights of the festival for us.

We then went out and got in line again to go back into the Chinese Theater for the presentation of Gaslight starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Boyer had also been in “Barefoot in the Park" the night before so we were seeing him in two different movies that were made 30 years apart. It was sort of an interesting comparison. Incidentally actress Mildred Natwick had been in both “Barefoot in the Park” and “Dangerous Liasions” so we saw two stars in their own double feature at the festival, an unplanned but very pleasant coincidence.

Amanda had not seen Gaslight before and she enjoyed it quite well, the fact that the term gaslighting has become so prolific in the last couple of years is easy to understand once you see the movie. We know that we are being deliberately lied to and are expected to accept the lie in spite of the evidence of our own eyes and ears. That's exactly what is happening as Boyer's character is attempting to drive his wife mad as he seeks jewels that belonged to her aunt.  The movie was also the debut of Angela Lansbury and she is quite a character as a fairly slutty servant who is providing comic relief and some plot details in the film.

As much as we would have liked to stay for the midnight screening of “Vanishing Point”, it wasn't going to work. We were not staying in a hotel downtown and so we had a 45 minute commute back to the house in Glendora, and that meant that we would not have gotten home until after 3 am.. Not something that we could do and then on Saturday morning get up for the other films that we planned on seeing.

Day Three

We had to make a tough choice on Saturday morning, and the way it played out for the afternoon meant that our best option was to see “The Day the Earth Stood Still" in the Chinese Theater Multiplex. I think whenever they have an older science fiction film they basically get Joe Dante out of storage and bring him to the festival. Let's face it, this is a guy who knows what Saturday sci-fi and the 50s and 60s was all about. 

He told a couple of quick stories about the making of the film, got us hyped up for the movie, and then got out of the way. This may be the 4th or 5th time I've seen him introduce a movie at the festival, and he always seems to work it just right, so the focus is on the movie.

Immediately after The Day the Earth Stood Still we got back in line at the multiplex to see Captain Blood, one of my favorite Errol Flynn films. The guest was Allen Rode who has written extensively about the era of films that this was made in and in particular about director Michael Curtis, whose long association with Errol Flynn was contentious for a variety of reasons including things that happened in the making of this film.  

Mr Rode talked about the final time that Flynn and Curtis met near the end of Flynn's life when he was broke and desperate for work, and although they had had their differences they seem to have a Reconciliation at that final meeting, and after Flynn left Curtis told his host that if it wasn't for Errol Flynn he would not have had a career. 

Because of the timing of events at the festival, we had to step out of Captain Blood for a few minutes to get queue cards for the next film that we wanted to see. We were able to do that and then go back in to finish off the movie, but the sequence that we missed while we were gone was the great duel between Flynn and Basil Rathbone on the beach. Fortunately I've seen the movie a dozen times, still it would have been nice to be able to see that moment again on the big screen.

The movie that we were trying to ensure that we got queue cards for was next and that was 1979's”The Muppet Movie”. The guest was composer Paul Williams, who did the music for the film and wrote the great classic song “Rainbow Connection”. Williams was in fine form telling great stories, and because he was going to be doing a conversation later in the festival, there was a small tribute film to him that screened before the Muppet Movie. Frankly if I had to pick a moment from the festival that was my favorite this would probably be it. I love “The Muppet Movie" and I've admired Paul Williams for 50 plus years. This made me anticipate the conversation that would be coming up later even more. 

Afterwards we all sang along with the “Dream Factory"at the end of The Muppet Movie and then we made our way over to the Egyptian Theater for a screening of a Fellini film. We were also going to meet up with one of the Lambs who is also going to be seeing “Nights of Cabiria”. Aaron Neuwirth saw me first, and yes I turned around to the call “hey old man”. Ouch, but it is accurate. Aaron went in first. He had already gotten a queue card and he held a couple of seats for us at the back of the theater because all three of us were going to leave as soon as the movie was done to get queue cards for the next film.

“Nights of Cabiria”, won the Academy Award for Best foreign language film back in the 1950s, and I suppose from the perspective of the time it would be deserving. Frankly, it was not my cup of tea. The lead actress was quite good but her character is frustratingly  irritating and dense to the point that she makes the same mistakes over and over again. And it may very well be that The stereotype of Italians shouting everything comes from this movie where the actors all seem to be about 20 decibels louder than they need to be. I have to admit that the three of us dozed off occasionally, and we left a little bit early to be sure we got in line for the movie that we were all anticipating.

Our final film on Saturday was “Robocop”, which I have seen on the big screen almost as many times as I've seen “Jaws” on the big screen. The bonus here though, was the guests, Paul McCrane who plays Emil,  the melting man in the movie, Kurtwood Smith who is Clarence Boddicker, the villain who gets the most amount of time and the juiciest lines in the movie, and RoboCop himself Dr Peter Weller.

They had a lively time sharing stories about the making of the film and commenting on the work of director Paul Verhofen in turning this film into something that was not cartoon movie junk but rather a satire of the social mores of the time. I think all of the conversations that took place during the festival are available on the TCM YouTube channel, but I will try to link this one here because it was so memorable. Amanda and I had actually seen Peter Weller talk about Robocop in the Egyptian Theater several years before when the American Cinematheque was doing a tribute to Miguel Ferrer who passed away just days earlier. We said goodbye to Aaron after this film and once again headed home for a short night's sleep before coming back for the last day of the festival.

Day 4

Going to a movie at 9: 00 in the morning on a Sunday is my idea of Heaven but I'm sure a lot of people felt it was a little early. One of the most fun conversations about a film at the festival however took place here as nine of the 12 kids who made up the “Bad News Bears" showed up to talk about the movie. You would think having that large a crowd of storytellers would be overwhelming but they paced themselves very well and everybody got a turn to say something about the movie and their experience in it.

All of them had very nice things to say about Walter Matthau but also the director Michael Ritchie. Some of them had been actors and some of them had been kids who played baseball and just wanted an opportunity to do so on screen. As anybody who has seen the movie knows, there is dialogue in this film that comes from not only the adults but the kids, that would certainly not be politically correct. There is language that would not pass muster with the woke police of today. With that warning the audience watching the movie laughed at all of the appropriate places and held their breath once or twice because of the language use but everyone seemed to recognize that this was a comedy not a commentary and they responded appropriately. 

I actually saw the Bad News Bears in the Chinese Theater in 1976 so it was kind of fun on the 50th anniversary to be back for another screening. I was asked about it by the cameras that were roving the courtyard before the film so I hope that that footage shows up somewhere so that people can appreciate the moment.

Our next stop at the TCM Film Festival was at Club TCM in the Roosevelt Hotel, to listen to the conversation with Paul Williams. Ben Mankiewicz introduced Williams and we also got to see the film tribute again which was nice. Paul went into more detail about the start of his career and he talked about how being an actor in a film where he picked up a guitar and started teaching himself how to play and making up a song on the spot led him to a career as a songwriter.

He could not be laudatory enough about Karen Carpenter, referring to her as an angel whose voice gave life to his lyrics and set his career path. I was hoping there would be a little bit more talk about the “Phantom of the Paradise" and I think Mankiewicz was planning on that, but Paul Williams is a raconteur and he had things that he wanted to say, so they just let him go. If there was one screening that I missed at this year's Film Festival that I would really like to have made it would have been “Ishtar” a movie that I have championed in the face of derisive criticism since the day it opened. Williams talked about how he was trying to create songs for that film that work musically but were cringe-worthy, and frankly he succeeded. He was pretty proud however of some of the lyrical rhyming that he did and who can blame him. 

After the conversation we rushed over to the Egyptian Theater for another one of those things that we look forward to every year, the Craig Barron Ben Burtt presentation of "The Towering Inferno”. These two Academy award-winning film technicians deconstruct the visual effects and the sound effects of the movie that they talk about each year. We briefly met our friend Michael in line,  who had shown up hoping to be able to crash the presentation and was in the standby line. We told him we would try to hold a seat for him when we got inside, but he texted us that he never really got close to being able to have a ticket to the screening. Maybe next year Michael, sorry.

Burtt and Baron both have a lot of fun putting these presentations together and they showed up in their firefighters turnouts and helmets to explain how the movie was made. They had some great behind the scenes pictures and clips to show, and the story of working with fire is always fascinating. 

“The Towering Inferno” is 2 hours and 45 minutes, which sounds like a long time but it actually moves very effectively. Some people may think of it as a Cheesy disaster film, but let me tell you it works really well and plays like gangbusters on the screen. Maybe the character development is a little thin, but the plot plays out with a lot of suspense and there are some great set pieces. Paul Newman and Steve McQueen both get to play action hero in a couple of scenes and those look terrific on the big screen. Everyone was surprised at how well the film holds up, and this was the right way to see it on the big screen with great sound. 

It also turns out that Director John Landis was a stuntman on the film who took a dive out a window on fire, and he was in the audience for the screening. How cool was this bit of trivia? 

For our last film at the festival we decided to skip the closing night screening in the Chinese IMAX theater and instead opted for screening of the Gene Kelly Musical “On the Town”. The hosts for the show were Mario Cantone and Kate Flannery and I think both of them had a few shots before the screening because they were feeling good. 

They didn't have any special insight into the film but they enjoyed talking about the three main characters and they engaged in a variation of the “F***”, Marry, or Kill?  game, and let's just say the poor Jules Munchen came up on the short end of the stick with everyone. 

“On the Town” is an ebullient celebration of New York City and the Golden Age of Hollywood dancing. Anne Miller and Vera Ellen are terrific dancers and Betty Garrett is no slouch either. There are great sequences and memorable moments in the film and it feels really nice to close out a classic film festival with a movie that came from the Dream Factory at its height.

So that was our Festival experience and I can't wait till next year.

Normal (2026)

 

"Normal” is anything but that, it is in fact an archaic violent comedy that makes us laugh at the stupidity of greedy rural residents and the odd Midwestern weather of Wisconsin. Bob Odenkirk continues to play quirky men of mild demeanor who can demonstrate steely resolve when necessary. While never reaching the heights of “Nobody”, “Normal" does manage to be relatively entertaining and fulfill our desire for violence as entertainment.

Odenkirk stars as a law enforcement official, taking temporary assignments after his marriage seemingly broke up over his longtime law enforcement job. We will of course get slightly more detail toward the end of the film to reveal what went wrong, but just know that Sheriff Ulysses is simply trying to keep things in the style to which they were when he shows up. He is taking a job to be the interim Sheriff of a town in Wisconsin called Normal, and of course the town turns out to be normal... Abby normal , that is.

I was surprised at the start of the movie with a lengthy introduction scene featuring Yakuza. What the heck does this have to do with an American rural community?  Well we will discover that soon enough, let's just say the setup serves just to demonstrate the ruthlessness of the Yakuza, and that will become a subject of interest to everybody in the film later on.

Odenkirk comes across as a peacekeeper with a hands-off approach to law enforcement questions. So when suspicious activity breaks out, he tends to calm the situation long enough to walk away from it. Ultimately however there's going to be a situation that he can't walk away from and that's when the fireworks start. As the old saying goes" trust no one". Eventually the film plays out like a more criminalized version of Hot Fuzz. The goal here is not the greater good but the greater gelt.

The sheriff becomes a one-man Army standing up for Law and Order in the face of insane odds and over the top violence. But there is a lot of humor along the way. Henry Winkler gets a chance to play a character who's a bit of an ass, but still maintains some personal charm. We discover again, that what we find on the surface is not always what is there. Let's just say, when the bullets and RPGs start to interact there will be plenty of mess to clean up and characters that you will be satisfied to see get a little cut down to size.

Maybe it's not a great thing that violence is being used to generate humor and death is manufactured for laugh, but dadgummit that's exactly what happens in a very successful way. 

Almost Famous (2000) Revisit

 

It has been a long time since I last watched "Almost Famous" and it was probably the year 2000 when I last saw it on screen in a movie theater. Both of those deficiencies were recently corrected when I attended a screening at the Paramount Theater as part of their fan support program as the theater gets ready for a year long restoration process. This was a great choice for movie fans because the film will remind us of the reasons we go to the movies in the first place. We want to be entertained and stimulated, and "Almost Famous" does those things for it's entire running time.

We are presented a number of moral quandaries that we will ask ourselves. How far are you willing to go to "make it"? When is it appropriate to lie, and when is it better to tell the truth? Can you be rich or famous and maintain integrity? What is the meaning of friendship? Can music save your mortal soul? The film is filled with characters who face this issues throughout the story. Russell Hammond, played by Billy Crudup, is a touchstone for most of those issues. As the lead guitarist and chief songwriter of the band "Stillwater", he comes across as if he is trying to maintain integrity as a musician, but he falls prey to all the trappings of rock excess including rationalizing cheating on his partner. His sincerity is undermined by his actions.

The hero of the story is William Miller, 1 15 year old kid who writes like a veteran journalist, but is being swallowed up by the music machine as he struggles to get to the heart of the band.   Rock and Roll is full of dangerous offramps and he is operating with the most important navigational tool available , the band aid (not groupie) Penny Lane. That these two characters are able to charm us is not only due to the writing of director Cameron Crowe, but to the casting of two young actors who were completely up to the task. Patrick Fugit has the naive expression and longing eyes that make his charter feel convincing as a young writer. He is assisted by the legendary Phillip Seymour Hoffman, playing the legendary real life Lester Bangs, a gonzo journalist of the era.

The not so secret weapon of the whole enterprise  is the luminescent Kate Hudson as Penny Lane. Just about every scene she appears in, she dominates the  moment by her look and graceful movements. If ever there were a star making part for an actress this century, it is this one. She was a joy to watch and listen to, and the audience at the screening seemed to respond to her character warmly, and the last shot of her leaves us with a positive stage on which to exit the theater, happy in knowing that life can go on, regardless of disappointments.

I will just add that the screening gave us a chance to chat with some of our friends on the staff of the Paramount Film crew. Erin and Kevin were as happy to see us as we were to see them. The Summer Classic Film Series will be moving to the State Theater Next door while the restoration project is in progress. It is a smaller venue so some nights this coming summer may get a little crowded, but we all hope for the best for both theaters as the long term project plays out. 

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

 

There is literally no need for a sequel to the 2019 horror comedy , “Ready or Not” . That film was a nifty little thriller that accomplished its goal in a less than 2 hour time slot and left.you completely satisfied with the outcome. The only reason to follow up is to have some more fun or to make more money. I am not an investor in a movie studio,.so for me, the only thing that matters, is the movie fun?

My answer is yes. “Ready or Not 2”  is a lot of fun, although it does suffer as most sequels do from not being as fresh as the original. The film basically reboots the same scenario as the original film, but throws in additional characters and motives and provides the kind of World building that would allow such an expansion. In fact , the film picks up exactly where the first one left off , with Grace, played by Samara Weaving, sitting on the steps of the La Domas mansion , smoking a cigarette and trying to recover from her ordeal. Almost immediately, she becomes a suspect in the burning down of the house, and the vanishing of all of her in-laws, and her husband. 

The LA Domas Family Dominion turns out to be part of a cabal of satanists who basically run the world as oligarchs, controlling huge swaths of wealth and power. Director David Cronenberg appears as the head of the entire syndicate of evil doers .and Grace's victory in the game leads to a new set of circumstances. This reset the rules for the organization and required a follow up game. Elijah Woods appears as the enigmatic attorney who represents Mr. Le Bail, the devil-like figurehead that all of the families are subservient to.

With a little retconning and a lot of exposition provided by various members of the families and by the Woods character, we see how a new game is going to play out and  the added wrinkle of multiple families competing to kill Grace is also layered with a family dynamic that we weren't expecting. Grace has an estranged younger sister, who accidentally becomes involved in the game herself. So now we have the 2 women racing against 5 other families in an attempt to survive a more elaborate game of Hide and Seek, with the stakes being control of the world.

If the set up sounds convoluted , well , frankly , it is. I didn't mind that. In fact, it makes some of the fun that follows more interesting and feels like it's got bigger stakes. The intensity of the violence is turned up, as is some of the character humor of the twisted  oligarchs.as they jockey for position and control. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Hatosy play the children of Cronenberg's character who become the main antagonists. Hatosy , in particular, is shown as a dangerously venal monster, with only a desire to  satisfy his own interests. 

Grace's sister Faith is played by actress Kathryn Newton, and the two sisters' estrangement and reconciliation becomes an important part of the secondary plot. In the long run, it is a lot of foolishness, designed merely to give us a reason for a group of people to try desperately to kill another group of people, and in the end, for us to clearly root for one side. The film is funny and the sick way that the original was. There are several twists along the way , some of which you see coming , some of which are a surprise. If you are a fan of the first film , you will most likely enjoy this one, Just probably not as much.

Project Hail Mary (2026)

 

At this point, it is completely unnecessary to encourage anyone to see this, it is already a success and the word of mouth on it has been so good that people are probably tired of hearing it talked up. Regardless, I do think I want to share a few brief comments and give you access to my own thoughts on the film.

This is a science fiction film, with an alien, so it may not sound that like a serious  film to you. While the premise is a little far fetched, the narrative raises some interesting questions and validates some moral standards that we as a species adhere to. The character of Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, is not a hero in the traditional sense. As we learn, his resistance to accepting the mission goes far beyond doubting himself and reveal a character flaw that might make us despair of human reliability. Eva Stratt, the single minded authoritarian head of the project to save the world, played by Sandra Hüller, makes a decision that while expedient and necessary, raises issues about autonomy and freedom which would normally be important but are dwarfed by the circumstances. Grace responds but the exigencies of his actions are maybe not as altruistic as we expect. In the end however, we discover a strength that the character has that he did not see in himself.

The greatest advantage this movie has in connecting with an audience is the fact that the charismatic Gosling is interacting with real sets and not green screens that so often make a film feel artificial, in spite of their detail and craftsmanship.  The movie feels more real than any comic book movie, not because of the premise but because of the look. This is particularly true when dealing with "Rocky" the alien that is shown on screen as a puppet rather than a digital creature. So much of the success of the film depends on the relationship between Grace and Rocky, that the tangible presence is needed.  Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have made the right choices on all the technical aspects of the film.

The only reservations I have are a result of reading the novel before seeing the film. There were moments and character points that I wanted to have in the film but could not be accomplished effectively without making the film slow down too much. Transitioning a book into cinema always changes things and that is simply the nature of the different mediums. 

If you want more detail, you should check out the LAMBcast that is linked below. None of my criticisms are meant to denigrate the movie, and Ryan Gosling should get most of the credit for the movie because his performance sells the concept tremendously.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Revisit

 

I love returning to films that I have not really posted on before, because it gives me an opportunity to think about the reason they stay in my head so long that I want to revisit them. "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" has not been ignored on this site, it was part of a Triple Feature Screening Video that I posted 9 years ago.  This however is the first time I am writing about the movie, and that requires some thought and analysis as well as some cheerleading. 

The main reason that anyone should be coming back to this subject for a sequel, four years after the original, is to spend more time with nearly everyone's favorite character from the first film, Ian Malcom. In the original "Jurassic Park" once you get past the dinosaurs, which were terrific innovations at the time, the most interesting element of the film is Jeff Goldblum as  chaotician Dr. Ian Malcom. The character has all the idiosyncrasies of the actor, plus the clever lines of humor, as well as narration of  the science and the morality issues in the film. Goldblum brings the standard thriller adventure to life with, as John Hammond says" You'll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm, he suffers from a deplorable excess of personality". In "The Lost World" you get a double dose of that personality, with frequent and completely justifiable moments of "I told you so." There are new characters for him to mock, cajole and kibitz with. Whatever they paid Goldblum was completely worth it.

Of the new characters, Pete Postlethwaite as Roland Tembo, the big game hunter brought in to collect specimens from the laboratory island for the new zoo attraction, is the most interesting and fun. He has no sense of humor and feels quite stern, bit his aura of authority keeps the action together once the shit hits the fan in the plot. Julianne Moore as Ian's girlfriend and paleontologist, Sarah, is the new John Hammond, at least when it comes to making mistakes about how to deal with the animals. She is responsible for the biggest error in the decision being made when she brings the wounded baby T-Rex into their mobile lab. It creates the scenario that produces one of the best examples of Steven Spielberg action directing, you will ever find.   I will get to that in a moment. Vince Vaugh is a serviceable action hero during the second act, and Arliss Howard as the unctuous Peter Ludlow, the new Chair of InGen, is suitably loathsome while also being out of his depth. One more character that deserves mention is played by future West Wing star Richard Schiff as Eddie Carr, the logistics man for Malcom's expedition to the island. Schiff is surprisingly great as a man of action, who performs the most heroic deeds in the film. His on screen death was one that was not played for laughs like Gennaro in the first film, but as a tragedy for all still alive.

The most spectacular set piece is the dual T-Rex attack on the mobile laboratory and the struggle of the character to survive. Spielberg paints a picture of the attack, mostly from inside of the vehicle. There are a few exterior shots, but mostly the action plays out in the confines of a double long recreational vehicle. The roll over effect is nicely staged, and the pushing of the vehicle so that the trailer half is hanging off the side of the cliff, makes the car in the tree scene form "Jurassic Park" look like the warm up act. When people criticize sequels for just repeating stories with bigger budgets, they would be ignoring this scene which also has bigger stakes and technical planning. The ambition compounds the threat, includes more of the dinosaurs and ratches up the tension repeatedly. There are multiple moments when the situation grows worse, and just as they start to resolve a complication, something new arises and doubles down on the characters desperation.  This is Spielberg at his merciless best in building tension and releasing it over and over. This scene stands up next to the T-Rex attack in "Jurassic Park", without any need to feel inadequate. It is an exquisite four minutes of movie magic.

One of the biggest criticisms of the film when it was first released was the final chapter set in San Diego. I recall people saying that it cheapened the film, but I always thought it answered the problem of Ian Malcom's credibility quite effectively, and it set the stage for InGen as a villain in subsequent films. They are always chasing the dollar, and underestimating the risks at someone else's expense.   Besides, there are two or three great visuals in that sequence, the Venture coming out of the dark and running into the dock is frightening and the T-Rex in the backyard, with the doghouse dangling from it's maw is disturbing. 

Even the moments in the film which are contrived, such as the gymnastic move by Ian's daughter, still work because Spielberg knows timing and setting well enough to make us invested, even in the ridiculous. We saw this film at an Alamo Movie Party Screening, and audiences are encouraged to react out loud to things on screen. This moment got some hoots, but not a lot, and there was even some cheering when the raptor goes down. 

This movie is not as essential as it's progenitor, but it is entertaining as hell, with laughs provided by Malcom's sanctimony and thrills provided by other characters stupidity. This may be the reason we keep going to films in this franchise, because we know, sometimes in spite of the obviousness, we can be entertained by suspense and action that is well done. 

  

The Bride! (2026)

 

I saw this movie in a Thursday Early screening, and I knew there was trouble by the sparsity of the crowd. In spite of coming from an accomplished actress as director with an award nominated film in her directing resume, there was plenty to doubt. This was obviously going to be a punk rock version of the Bride of Frankenstein, but it is hard to tell who would be the audience. We were there as fans of actress Jessie Buckley, who should be grateful this movie opened after the Academy Award voting this year had closed. She was terrific in "Hamnet" but over the top and more anonymous than expected in this. 

From the start of the film, when the ghost of Mary Shelly, reaches out for an insane story follow up to her famous novel, you get chaos. Somehow her spirit possesses a mob good time girl, and then that woman is murdered and her body rejuvenated by a mad doctor, prompted to do so by the creature that Mary Shelly invented. Yeah, it's that kind of batshit crazy and it gets more convoluted as well. There is a side story that involves the mobster who is responsible for the crime in Chicago in the 1930s, and he is not named Al Capone , but rather has the last name of Lupino, who is pursued by the dead woman reborn who it turns out was named Ida. Film fans will recognize this combination of names as the identity of actress and proto-feminist director Ida Lupino, the most well known woman director of films in the 40s and 50s in Hollywood. That barely scratches the surface of the movie references that the film piles on.

"Frank", the so named creature (maybe a lazy choice, maybe deliberately stupid), is a fan of Ronnie Reed, a singing and dancing movie star clearly inspired by Fred Astaire. Somehow, the Frankenstein Monster and his Bride, end up in a road picture, like a less romantic Gable and Colbert, more like Bonnie and Clyde or Mickey and Mallory. Death and Michael Jackson dance moves follow. Then we throw in a pursuing detective and his secretary, the real brains of the pair, and you have a chase movie. Scene to scene we watch the pursuers and the pursued, hop skip and jump through towns connected by the movies of Ronnie reed, for no particular reason. At one point a cult of women decide to emulate the Bride as if she were a modern YouTube influencer, advocating death and weird makeup tips. Pay close attention to when this happens because although it gets a whole 30 seconds of screen time, it will be a big part of the resolution of the film. 

OK, so this is all supposed to be absurdist art we are absorbing for two plus hours, but only the occasional image suggests anything artistic, the rest of it is gibberish. Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley, overact the vast majority of the time, diminishing the moments in the film when you might have had some interest in their characters. Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz as the pursuers are moistly wasted with motives that are fuzzy and story arcs that make no sense. When the credits at the end of the movie start with The Monster Mash as the closing song, it is clear that this was one long cartoon. Randomly sticking incomplete feminist ideas into a Pepe LePew short, makes no sense an swallows up any purpose the movie might have.

I can say that I enjoyed watching the film in several sequences, but that this is clearly not a good movie and it's existence is a puzzle. Who thought the script was worth the effort, much less the money that it took. Maggie Gyllenhaal got too far out over her skis and the result is a mildly interesting mess that will be lucky to get midnight screenings at art house theaters but not ant acclaim. This is "The Room" for horror film fans, and that may sound inviting, I suspect most of you will not feel so if you spent the night with it.  

Jurassic Park (1993) Revisit [Alamo Rant]

 

I have written about "Jurassic Park" on many previous posts. (Here, Here, and Here), so there is plenty of content on the site to cover the film I saw again on the big screen last weekend. 

Instead of elaborating ore on a film you all know, I want to take this opportunity to vent. I am frustrated to no end by a decision made by one of my beloved movie chains.

Alamo Drafthouse popularized the idea of theater dining and drinking. Those have never been my favorite part of going to an Alamo Presentation, but the experience has been less intrusive than I feared when the whole thing began. (Disclosure: The first in theater Dining Experience I had was at an AMC) The idea of waiters delivering food and taking orders while a movie was playing seems antithetical to me. The process is disruptive to the viewing experience. 

Alamo had managed it as well as could be expected, but they have suddenly stepped into their own trap. For years, the thing that was unique about the Alamo Drafthouse Experience was the forcefulness of their no phone policy. 

Last year they introduced an option to use your phone before the movie, as a way to order. This year, it has become mandatory. If you want any concession, food order or assistance, you have to use your phone. This was our first time under the new exclusive ordering system, and it was not a pleasant experience. Everyone in our row was grouching about the idea that to get concession items, you have to violate the long time "No Phones" policy. When the No Phone Slide shows up on screen before the film starts, it has a disclaimer now, excluding their own app. You could hear derisive laughter throughout the theater. 

As long as this new policy stays in place, I will be resisting it the best way that I can. The Alamo Experience had two things going for it, They have the best programming and they had the no phones policy. To me, the food and drink service was always secondary at best.  We did often order food and we enjoyed it, but it is not special enough to continue if this intrusive Phone approach is going to stay in place. So, AMC and Cinemark, you will see me more often. I'm not canceling my Alamo Movie Pass, I'm just not going to order anything when I go to a film that I can only find at the Drafthouse. Local eating establishments will be getting my business if I am hungry. #sneekinginmyjuniormints. 

Scream 7 (2026)

 

The movie is largely disappearing, so my motivation to write something unique is low. Most of my thoughts on the film can be found in the LAMBcast Episode devoted to it. Above is the Illustrated podcast.

Below is the audio version.

Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die (2026)

Gore Verbinski  has created a lot of films that I've enjoyed , most of which have a strange twist or odd angle to them. One of my favorites is Rango, the animated film that earned him a very deserved Academy Award, because let's face it no one is going to give him an award for overseeing the chaos that is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, regardless of how much he managed to make sense of it all.

In anticipating “Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die”, I was expecting the usual degree of visual insanity and quirky characters that have characterized much of his previous work. To be honest a lot of it is here, but somewhere the funny got lost and instead of having a light touch with a serious subject, this movie feels as if it has a heavy thumb on the scale of sadness. 

I can't fault Sam Rockwell as the star of the film because he does exactly what he's supposed to be doing. He is maniacal, controlling, and at the center of all of the chaos. It's just that the chaos doesn't feel quite as chaotic as it should, and even though the premise is off center, it just doesn't feel off center enough. To me, the best section of the film is the opening where his character shows up and appears to be recruiting a team from the patrons of the diner that he's in.  We are led to believe that he's done this over 100 times before and is simply looking for the right combination of customers to get into his desired objective. The way in which he rejects or demands participation is truly amusing. Unfortunately once they escape the diner, what follows is a rather mundane Quest picture where the quest is just not as interesting as it should be.

The last half hour of the film does attempt to reinvigorate the crazy sensibility of the story. The fact that it is so dominated by visual effects that probably use the same kind of computer technology that the story is ultimately about, feels like it is undercutting the goal. I appreciate the characters of the company that Rockwell takes on his mission, and as we lose a couple on the way I was sad because they provided some of the best moments of the film.  

It's hard to understand what's going on from the very beginning, but as we get closer to the climax we do get a sense of what it all means. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but there is  another twist at the end, and although I could see it coming, that doesn't mean that I thought it was appropriate. Let's just say if we take the film at face value we are only watching a single chapter in a book that is not going to be completed. If there was hope that this could be a continuing series that has probably been dashed by the lack of box office, not to mention the less than enthusiastic reviews.

I'm glad I saw the movie, and I would certainly recommend it to fans of Sam Rockwell, because after all everything is better because he's in it. Since his failure with the Lone Ranger a dozen years ago, Verbenski has not been able to get a movie made on the scale of his previous dozen years. I'm afraid this movie is not going to change his situation. He has a great visual eye, but his storytelling chops seem to be muted at least for the moment. So let me finish by saying good luck, trying to figure out how this all works, have fun, watching the Clockwork Orange turn, and don't die from your bloated expectations.

Melania (2026)

 

I have no doubt that this will trigger some of my friends and readers. If there is a more toxic subject on line these days than Trump, I don't know what it is. Implicitly, this movie is likely to be seen as Trump Propaganda, and there is certainly reason to believe that based on some of the content. I think however, that someone capable of critical thinking should be able to separate the political boosterism, from the informational context that is being presented. Those of you who can only see evil in anything related to Trump should probably skip this just out of habit. If you stick with it, I hope you will find an accounting of the film as I saw it.

There are three aspects of the First Lady's movie that I think I would like to talk about, her fashion sense and design background, her goals and role as first lady, and the process of the Inauguration itself, including all the social accoutrements that go along with it. There is some political talk in the film, but it is relatively minor and not the subject that brought me to the film in the first place. One cannot deny that the reason any of this matters is because of her marriage, but that side of the political discussion is out of bounds on this site.

Melania Trump may be the most enigmatic First Lady of my lifetime. Her background seems alien to most of us to begin with. She is not from the political class and she is not from humble beginnings as a girl growing up in an American neighborhood, she is an immigrant who comes from a family steeped in the fashion and design ecosystem.  She has been a model and a fashionista from the earliest moments of her life, but her exposure to Americans as that person has been superficial. This film attempts to show her in a more engaged light. I don't pretend to have any sense of fashion or class elegance, but I can appreciate that there is a reason that state functions are not held on picnic tables with paper plates and Solo cups. I am reminded by that moment in "The Untouchables" when in the depths of despair after the murder of his colleague, Elliot Ness gets off the phone with his wife, he shakes his head in wonderment that somewhere in the world, someone cares about the color of the walls in the kitchen. Melania Trump clearly does.

The opening section of the film follows FLOTUS as she inspects, and approves of various elegant touches related to the Inauguration process. Plates and dinnerware need to be judged. The invitations have to be elegantly presented, the flower arrangements must reflect the dignity of an event. Most of us don't care much about those things, but brides at their own weddings do, diplomats at state functions do, and political powerbrokers care about them as well. So Melania turns her fashion forward eyes to these little things, including her own wardrobe for the Inaugural balls and the ceremony itself. The width of a hat brim and the accompanying band, must be just right. Her confidence in this realm of her position seems unassailable if pretentions. 

In regard to her position as FLOTUS, we learn of her charities and the way she has reached out to the world, in a manner that is sometimes invisible. A Facetime chat with the First Lady of France shows us some of the social functions that go along with politics. These behind the scene moments are the reasons that anyone interested might want to overcome their revulsion of Trump and get some inside skinny. The segment with Aviva Siegel, a Gaza War hostage, talking about the trauma of being held and the fear for her husband who was still in captivity at the time of filming, would certainly be seen by jaded political observers as propaganda, but I saw it as a reflection of true human concern, and a story that was not fleshed out by the media, but gets some sympathetic ears from Melania. 

The time frame for the film is from the first of the year to Inauguration Day on January 20th. There are meetings and public events that all lead up to the start of the new term. We are given an insiders view of some of those moments. The security measures that are required are outlined without revealing anything top secret, and the planned outdoor event got scrapped by the inclement weather in D.C. in January 2025. I was fascinated by the process of moving out the Biden's and moving in the Trumps at the White House.  It was interesting to see up close some of the posturing that went on from each side as the tension in the moment is being assiduously avoided. 

I'm sure MAGA fans will find more to love about this film, and those who hate Trump will find plenty of fuel for their fire as well. As a documentary on the subject it claims to be about, it was generally satisfying. There is not a hard nosed point of view or axe to grind, this was the kind of film one might have seen on Biography or the Discovery channel once upon a time. Because the political factions are so hot right now, it gets turned into a litmus test for idealogues on both sides. I found it to be as innocuous as any other portrait of a First Family might be. Jackie Kennedy giving a tour of the White House, Ladybird Johnson advocating to Keep America Beautiful, Laura Bush promoting reading, Michelle Obama suggesting health exercise, they are all part of the same tradition. The most difficult thing most people these days seem to be incapable of, is digesting an normal tradition as simply being normal. This movie is not a sign of the Apocalypse, and it will end up in a documentary queue on Amazon, with all the other vanilla flavored First Lady documentaries, so relax.

Send Help (2026)

Director Sam Rami has been a favorite of mine since the Evil Dead movies of the late '80s. In fact I recently wrote about two of his films that I saw in theaters this year, “Darkman” and “The Quick and the Dead”. It's been a while since he's had a film out that was clearly something that he was built for. He did the best he could to mold “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" into a Sam Rami film, but it still had to be a Marvel product.

With “Send Help", he returns to the horror genre at least peripherally. While not a straight horror film, “Send Help" does have several horror elements to it, and a couple of good jump scares, one of which is clearly horror motivated. It is the scenario set up by the story that makes this more of an adventure drama, but the way Rami directs it, you will feel tension and revulsion as if you were watching a horror film.

One of the things that is unique about this movie, is that it will make us feel sympathetic to someone who commits some atrocious acts. Rachel McAdams stars as the put-upon data analyst and accounting specialist, Linda Liddle,  who is passed over for a promotion by someone who is younger, less experienced and of a different gender. This is done largely because the new head of the firm, the son of the firm's founder, is buddies with the guy and it's an old school approach to business.

After having been demeaned and ridiculed by her coworkers and boss, Linda gains the upper hand when their private jet crashes and she and her boss are stranded on an island, with a little chance of rescue. What follows is a series of events where the two characters fight, bond, fight some more, and deal with ambiguous relational issues. You never however get the feeling that all is going to be right. The boss, Bradley, played by Dylan O’Brien, continues to be a person whose lack of power drives him to do things to gain the upper hand. McAdams on the other hand, relishes her situation so much that she ignores some potential opportunities to escape the situation. It may be a trope in these revenge horror type films, that we sympathize with a dangerous character. I remember seeing Willard back in 1971, and knowing that even though he was a little deranged and murderous, I wanted him to get the best of his tormentors.

Surprisingly there are times when we can sympathize with the boss as well. Every time however, that he seems to be more human and someone who can work with his employee, he slips back into the habit of trying to one up his partner in the situation. Sam Rami lights us up with dangerous situations, sudden animal attacks, and a variety of injuries and poisons that make life on this island feel very tentative and risky.

As usual there are a couple of twists in the story, and when the final ones are revealed I think you will discover that the film is a very satisfying two hours of entertainment. That is if you enjoy Sam Rami’s camera style and dark sense of humor. In case you haven't guessed I do.

Josie and the Pussycats (2000) Re-Visit

So on my birthday 2 weeks ago I got a chance to revisit a film from 2000. It was very entertaining but was largely ignored at the time it was released. A little over a year ago I had a chance to attend a screening that was largely a party at the Paramount Theater celebrating Josie and the Pussycats. As it is, I was just celebrating my birthday with the Pussycats this time.

I've said it before, this film was way too clever for its own good. People misread it as a simple teen comedy, which it is to some degree, but it is also a sharp satire on the music industry, the media, and even the movie industry and its obsession with product placement. It is witty and sharp and full of jokes that will pass you by if you're not paying close attention. The opening of the film is loaded with shots at the commercialization of filmmaking because everything is branded.

The deeper pleasure in Josie and the Pussycats however is the music. The songs by this faux band are so upbeat, clever and tuneful that it's hard for me to understand how they weren't all hits, much less how they were ignored at the Academy Awards that year for best song which they were certainly more deserving of than what really won. 

I posted on this movie before and you can read about that here. and here.  I just want to celebrate one more time the fact that this movie exists, and that it evokes good memories from 25 years ago. I went to see it with my daughter and she was just a tween when we saw it the first time. She's now a grown woman and she made the effort to secure tickets for us so that we had something special to do on my birthday, thanks hon.

The Quick and the Dead (1995) Re-visit

 

I make no secret of the fact that this is my favorite Sam rami film, yes even ahead of "Evil Dead 2" and "Army of Darkness" and all the Spider-Man movies. The reasons are apparent when you look at the trailer: it is a western, it stars Gene Hackman, and it features a badass woman with a gun. That is a formula that is hard to screw up, and when you add in Sam Rami's directing style and Sharon Stone as the Lady, it is perfect.  (Which I said back in 2013). 

We saw this as part of an Alamo series of films, saluting Gene Hackman and David Lynch and others. Those of you here for the first time will learn that Gene Hackman is my favorite actor and this is one of his great villain performances. John Herod is an evil prairie scum who has leveraged his way into absolute authority over a border town, and maintains control by holding a quick draw contest each year to preoccupy and identify potential threats.  There is always a threat from Leo DiCaprio who may be Herod's illegitimate son. There are rival gunslingers who show up to challenge the undisputed dictator of the town of Redemption, and there is a mysterious woman who challenges the expectations of the 19th century Western Frontier, played by the aforementioned Sharon Stone. 

The movie is a homage to the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, borrowing heavily from "Once Upon  a Time in the West" but also Leone's style. There are sequences where the close ups get closer and they linger for more time than is comfortable. There are beads of perspiration that tell stories all by themselves, and the music while not being epic like Morricone, uses the instruments they way the master would, to set mood and accentuate a scene. Alan Silvestri is a terrific composer of movie scores and his work here is equal to the task. 

I listened to a podcast "That's Da Bomb" on this film, and after the BS that starts the show, there is a nice discussion of this movie, although my opinion of the film is far higher than theirs. Even better, I went back and listened to the "Lambcast MOTM from February 2022" where five of us discussed the movie in some detail. Once again, I am an outlier but I am also right. "The Quick and the Dead" rules, and there are just not enough people out there who appreciate to the degree that it deserves.