"I shouldn't have told you that, but I needed to tell somebody, and I trust you." - Peter
Agnes is a divorced waitress living hand-to-mouth, staying in a room at the end of a motel. She's been getting unsettling telephone calls from someone she assumes is her ex-husband - a violent man recently out of prison.
Her life is small and she keeps it that way. If your head stays down, there are fewer worries to contend with. The drawback to this life is the loneliness.
Her friend from work introduces Agnes to Peter. He's a bit of a loner too; integrating back into US society has been difficult since returning from his tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Something about Peter sparks something deep in Agnes, and their relationship grows. It grows into something strong enough to confront her Ex.
It grows into something that can defy reason itself.
Bug had an impact on me. Directed by William Friedkin and written by Tracy Letts, it had me thinking about the realities we create in relationships. It successfully married the reality of a hard scrabble town and the real violence that people face alongside the delusions and hopes we sustain to get by.
The movie has a dusty, worn-in feel. It starts exhausted, which makes sense for people at the end of their rope. The camera work and music add to the sense of unease. I've seen Bug referred to as a horror film; I'd say it leans more toward a dramatic thriller, though there are terrifying moments.
The performances are extraordinary. Harry Connick Jr is Agnes' demonic ex-husband, and Michael Shannon inhabits the looming and child-like Peter. Ashley Judd as Agnes however, is a standout. I have never seen her this good - it's an award-worthy turn. I would watch it again just for her.
The end moments of this film feel shocking yet inevitable.
I'm surprised this movie isn't better known, given the talented names associated with it. I've had it on my list forever, from an old movie review I saw, and I'm glad I did.
It's not for everyone, that said, I highly recommend it.
Dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein, 1h 34m [Film Penance 2025]
"I think we can't go out together again. I mean, even in a group. Even in a big group." - Dawn
Dawn (Jess Weixler) is the best speaker in her high school abstinence club. She wears a ring, like all the members do, to show that she's saving herself for marriage. No sexual intercourse while Jesus is on duty!
But teens are teens, and one sunny day she and Tobey decide to go to the swimming hole. Dawn's attracted to Tobey - he seems like a sweet guy, and he's a fellow abstainer. Much to her surprise, Tobey suggests that the grotto is the perfect place for them to do it, and he is adamant. (content warning)
He forces himself on Dawn while she fights him off. He winces while in the act, and well, his penis is cut off.
Dawn flees and while she's stunned after the assault, she also wonders what the heck is going on with her down there. Her experience awakened the ol' vagina dentata, the mythical legend of a vagina filled with teeth.
The movie has an "indie" look and feel. Small budget, handheld cameras and simple production design. The best thing about the movie is Weixler's performance as Dawn, and those of Vivienne Benesch and Lenny von Dohlen playing her ill mother and her docile stepfather.
I think the concept was a feminist retelling of horror tropes (the one note I wrote while watching was "final girl is the monster), and I will say, vagina dentata is rife with possibilities to explore, but it fell short of that mark for me. The film felt off balance.
So, gross-out body horror comedy, that was a bit too ham-fisted for me.
"For your information, if it were not for quitters, no one would start anything." - Phil
Am I a Wagon's East apologist? No. Do I think this movie is as bad as people say it is? Also no.
Now, there are a number of ways in which this movie can fail you. Were you expecting a Mel Brooks comedy like Blazing Saddles? Wagon's East is not that. That said, there's a lot about this movie to like.
First, the premise is a good one one. A gaggle of people who all tried to make a go of it in the Wild West, decide they preferred things out east and hire a wagon master named Harlow (John Candy) to help them reach St Louis.
The crew of misfits include Phil a physician (Richard Lewis), Belle a Madam (Ellen Greene), and Julian a bookseller (John C. McGinley) along with other families.
The movie is at its best when it focuses on the hardships that the "de-settlers" face, whether environmental, external threats, or each other. No expense was spared here, The production design, music and costumes are spectacular. It's well shot too. The exterior locations look beautiful and people are creatively placed within the landscape.
It's at it's worst when it strays from that main plot and introduces too many stories for the sole purpose of delivering weak jokes. You just want to get back to the merry band of weirdos. It least I did.
Overall, jokes land about 60% of the time which is a shame, because the actors are really giving it all they've got. I'm not mad at any of the performers. The movie is filled with great character actors like Robert PIcardo, Don Lake, Charles Rocket and William Sanderson. I'm irritated at how the movie dragged. You could easily cut 15 minutes from this film to get a cute piece of fluff. It made me wish there had been one more pass at the script to tighten it up. (See sidenotes).
While I can't recommend Wagon's East, I was pleasantly surprised.
Sidenotes: Things I liked but didn't anticipate about the movie. The queer bookseller character was never a joke - his community liked him and cared about him. He's a hero, as are those in the Sioux Nation. The Indigenous characters were smart and funny, and the de-settlers followed their direction.
"I know a few things about predatory behavior." - Christopher
Christopher Boyce is fed up with America. His family has money. Lots of it. No shortage of sweater vests for Christopher.
But still, Nixon has him so irked. Why can't his dad see he was right about Nixon? You totally know Christopher's thinking about his dad the whole time he's racing his falcon. The falcon is so free.
The wind catches you where you are.
With his father's connections as a former FBI agent, Christopher gets a job with a defense contractor working in communications. One day he receives a CIA message in error, learning that the US government is deposing the prime minister of Australia.
He's completely disillusioned. Nixon made him angry, but now this Australia thing too? Ya, he's disillusioned. And maybe sitting on a goldmine.
He decides he's going to sell secrets to the Soviets and draws his drug dealer friend Andrew (Sean Penn) into his plot.
Inspired by a true story, the Christopher of The Falcon and the Snowman never has a political awakening. He's no Che Guevara. His government's dirty tricks don't make him a communist or a socialist, they just made him indifferent about making money from them. He doesn't seem to care much about his life-long friend Andrew either.
The film has a cool colour palette and has a real sense of scope. The cinematography is sweeping and the film has a suspenseful pace.
David Bowie wrote the song "This is not America" with Pat Metheny Group for the movie and it's used artfully throughout.
Directed by John Schlesinger, the film is an interesting Cold War thriller on loyalty, cynicism, and American values.
High school can be tough. Ginger and Brigitte (Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins) are weirdo teenage sisters, best friends who like to provoke classmates and teachers with their weirdo art projects. Usually, some type of art installation where they model gory death scenes.
The teens sleep in twin beds their parents' basement, fawning over morbid images pinned to the walls and making death pacts. It's all a bit too over the top to be taken seriously.
Things change when Ginger gets her period.
One night a wild animal pins down Ginger in the park. The beast powerfully wounds her leaving her bleeding. She wakes up the next morning with strange desires, and Brigitte doesn't know who her sister is anymore.
The film is punctuated with rock music and dramatic sound. The visuals are grimy with a DIY aesthetic. I felt that the characters were enclosed in the framing, even when outside. The production design leans into this plain suburban dread.
The two leads are great with a special nod to their mother, Pamela, played satirically by Mimi Rogers.
Ginger Snaps is a clever little horror film that grafts a teenage girl's coming-of-age story onto the werewolf genre. The girl is hungry for more than the world wants to offer her.
Solid fun.
Pair with: An American Werewolf in London, Let the Right One In
"Honey, would you drop me down a Tab? My mouth is so dry, I feel like they could shoot "Lawrence of Arabia" in it." - Christine
The Last of Sheila is a satirical and fun mystery thriller about an untimely death and a boatload of Hollywood celebrities.
Sheila, a Hollywood gossip columnist is killed in a hit-and-run accident outside her home, while inside a party carried on. It's one year later, and Shelia's movie producer husband Clinton (James Coburn) wants to play a game aboard his yacht.
The yacht named after his dead wife.
He's invited some party-goers aboard:
There's Tom (Richard Benjamin) a screenwriter and his wife Lee (Joan Hackett); the abrasive and libidinous talent agent Christine (Dyan Cannon); the down-on-his-luck director Philip (James Mason); movie star Alice (Raquel Welch) and her manager husband Anthony (Ian McShane).
It's a dazzling group of celebrity friends who, just coincidentally, depend on one another for work. They all know how Clinton loves to play his games. They're also hoping that whatever Clinton is up to, it leads to a job out of his next production.
After Clinton roughly assembles everyone for a photo beside his boat, they quickly board and the play begins. Each guest receives a tiny envelope with a secret contained inside, a secret identity they must keep from each other.
When the Clinton dies on the field of play, anxiety runs high - not only do they have to solve a murder, they're also out of work.
The ensemble cast are marvelous. I've never liked Dyan Cannon more, she makes a meal of the Talent Agent, and Richard Benjamin plays layers as screenwriter, Tom.
Director Herbert Ross makes full use of the screen. Multiple actors fill a frame, along with clue after clue, making the composition a visual treat. The whip-smart screenplay was written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, and has the flavour of an insider's take.
The Last of Sheila was really fun. I'm not much of a mystery, Agatha Christie, "solve-the-puzzle" type of person. With this film, the cast is so wonderful and the tone is delightfully acerbic and campy.
"What do you morons think, that this is little Italy? Wake up! THIS IS THE TWENTY-FUCKIN'-FIRST CENTURY!" - Starkman
It's Trashy Tuesday folks! I can report that I have now watched Gigli. It's inspirational really, because you can write a film better than this one.
To quickly recap the plot...
Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck) is low-level mobster, tasked with kidnapping and hiding a young man named Brian (Justin Bartha). Brian has developmental issues and lives in a care home, funded by his big brother, an anti-mob prosecutor with a big case headed to court. So, Larry's gotta do some illegal babysitting.
Larry coaxes Brian out of the home and back to his apartment, but Larry's boss is convinced he's gonna fuck it up. Enter Ricki (Jennifer Lopez), the lesbian tough-cookie hired to co-babysit and make sure Larry does not fuck it up.
Which of course leaves you asking, why did Larry need to be hired at all? Why didn't Ricki get hired, day one, and leave "Larry the Fuck-up" out of the whole thing?
Because romance, guys! Dumb Larry is obviously going to be so charming he'll seduce the lesbian (very Chasing Amy wish-fulfillment energy). As they monitor their captive Brian, a hard-won admiration grows between Larry and Ricki, that could, just maybe, grow into love!
Pure fantasy.
Here's my series of thoughts about Gigli. Ben Affleck was not a believable mobster, like he didn't even try. Contrast that with what I thought was a good performance by Jennifer Lopez (it was very confusing). The brother with developmental issues seemed like a plot device where a "child" was required, without having to deal with pesky child actors - nothing about how this is handled makes sense. And look, I don't need my buddy comedy, action romances to have NASA levels of perfection, but this was glaring!
One part of me felt like, "Oh, this movie would be okay if you just changed...a, b, or c." By the time you get to "...l, m, n" you're talking about something different altogether, and you should watch that other film, or write it.
Brief moments of light are supplied when Christopher Walken and Lainie Kazan are onscreen as a detective and Larry's mother respectively. The closest the movie comes to being great is the scene when Al Pacino shows up as Starkman - the film's potential shows up there.
It's a bit crushing because Gigli was written and directed by Martin Brest, who directed Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run, two comedy classics.
The best thing I can say about Gigli is that it's not the worst film I've ever seen. You should still watch something else.
Watch instead: Midnight Run, Prizzi's Honor, Get Shorty
Dir. Michelangelo Antonioni, 2h 24m [Film Penance 2025]
"All this fuss over a swim" - Anna
L'Avventura is a classic Antonioni film and I enjoyed every moment of it.
Anna (Lea Massari) is a disenchanted heiress, with plans to meet up with friends for a Mediterranean pleasure cruise aboard a luxury yacht. She confides in best friend Claudia (Monica Vitti) her misgivings about being reunited with her architect boyfriend Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti). He's just returned from a business trip and Anna's feelings are just not the same.
Anna, Claudia and Sandro take to the water with wealthy pals, Giulia, Corrado, Raimondo and Patrizia, all with their own relationship issues. They reach the Aeolian Islands, an ideal place to drop anchor, spend some time of the rocks and go for a swim.
As the friends gather later in the day to leave, they realize that Anna has gone missing. No one can find her. They search the islands themselves to no avail and bring in the authorities.
Claudia and Sandro decide they will continue their own physical search for Anna; Claudia thinks they should look separately, but Sandro is convinced that together is the way.
L'Avventura is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. The black and white photography is sumptuous. The use of framing is impeccable. I particularly liked the way that multiple characters could be seen onscreen at the same time: inside a room, and outside a window, through a door and reflected in glass, people dotted amongst the rocks. The environment is used to the fullest. Camera moves are well employed with beautifully composed tracking shots guiding us to a moment, then taking flight. The music is used sparingly, but meaningfully.
The performances are stellar. Monica Vitti is stunning, naive and humourous while Gabriele Ferzetti is seductive and charming without being menacing.
I highly recommend L'Avventura and would absolutely go see it on the big screen.
