Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Genre: Science-Fiction / Horror

Directed by: Philip Kaufman

Cast: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy

Time: 115 minutes

Matthew Bennell, a San Francisco health inspector, and his colleague, Elizabeth Driscoll, discover that humans are being replaced by alien replicas, which are perfect copies, without the human emotions.

This is a remake of the 1956 original and is based on the novel The Body Snatchers, by Jack Finney.

From the moment the movie starts, I find the first scenes, where nothing much happens, is a great way to build tension. You can feel that something is awry. Then, once the action starts, the story and the delivery by the actors contribute greatly to increase that tension. The main characters have no idea who they can trust, and, as a viewer, you feel the same way.

The story takes a few turns that were a little weird for me, but, overall, I was greatly entertained by this cinema classic. And that scream at the end…wow.

Rating: ««««

White Girl (2016)

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Elizabeth Wood

Cast: Morgan Saylor, Brian Marc, India Menuez

Time: 88 minutes

After moving to Ridgewood, Queens, apartment with her friend, Leah, a university student, gets involved with young Latino man who sells coke on her block.

Honestly, while certain scenes in this film, that was written and directed by Elizabeth Wood,  were dripping with sexiness, the script and the acting never managed to make care about these characters. In the end, I got disinterested and gave up on it.

Rating: ««

The Longest Week (2014)

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Directed by: Peter Glanz

Cast: Jason Bateman, Olivia Wilde, Billy Crudup

Time: 86 minutes

Now in his 40’s, Conrad Valmont has been living a sheltered life of comfort and leisure in the Manhattan hotel owned by his parents. When his parents decide to divorce, on a prolonged trip around the world, Conrad is thrown out of the nest. While meeting up with a friend, he falls in love with Beatrice.

This film was violently trashed by the critics. While I would not call this one a classic, I was still entertained by its tone. Contrary to what some have said, I got the feeling that the filmmakers were not taking themselves seriously and spoofing the genre. The characters could have been greatly unpleasant to watch in action, but the actors managed to make them likeable in spite of their evident flaws. Overall, this was not bad.

Rating: «««

The Bad Batch (2016)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: Ana Lily Amirpour

Cast: Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, Jim Carrey, Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves

Time: 115 minutes

In an undetermined Dystopian future, the undesirables of society, referred to as The Bad Batch, are labelled and dropped off in a fenced-in area outside of Texas to fend for themselves. Arlen is a new member of that bad batch. Soon after being processed and cast away, she is captured by a group of cannibals, who go on to cut off one of her arms and one of her legs. She finally escapes and is brought by a hermit to Comfort, an improvised town in the desert, where she is nursed back to health. As she ventures back to where she was captured, to seek revenge, she finds a little girl that will follow her back to Comfort. This will bring the child’s father on a mission to get her back.

This movie has a lot of things going for it. I love the use of music, be it in its presence or in its absence. When it is used, it is cool; but, the silence also helps creating a mood at the right times. It was also a nice treat to see Jim Carrey in a different role, where he did not have to rely on words to convey emotions. The acting in general was pretty good and the main premise was interesting.

Unfortunately, in spite of all of its merits, The Bad Batch kind of fell apart at some point. It was an overstretched piece that got way too thin down the line and became less and less interesting.

Rating: «««

Posers (2003)

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Katie Tallo

Cast: Jessica Paré, Sarain Boylan, Stefanie von Pfetten, Emily Hampshire

Time: 80 minutes

A group of four young women beat up a girl in the restroom of a nightclub out of jealousy over a guy. After their victim dies from her injuries, the leader of the group disappears, forcing the remaining members to wonder what happened.

What a boring pile of junk this film is. Written and directed by Katie Tallo, it is a mess of pointless drivel and bad acting. Had they gone all the way down the exploitation route, with nudity and violence, it might have been improved a bit. Unfortunately, on top of all its flaws, the violence is hinted and not shown and the love scene is shot so prudishly you’d think they hired a nun as consultant.

Rating: «

Take the 10 (2017)

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Chester Tam

Cast: Josh Peck, Tony Revolori, Emily Chang

Time: 80 minutes

This film, which was released on Netflix last year, tells the story of the day in the life of two best friends, as they collide with a drug dealer and a corrupt grocery store manager.

This film was fun and entertaining, though a bit silly. It was cool how we kept being brought back in time to see the actions of that day from a different perspective. The acting was decent enough and it was kept short enough not to overlast its welcome.

Rating: «««

Seinfeld (1989-1998)

Genre: TV / Comedy

Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards

Number of seasons: 9

In this popular sitcom from the 1990’s, comedian Jerry Seinfeld plays a fictionalized version of himself, surrounded by best friend George Costanza, former girlfriend Elaine Benes and apartment neighbor Cosmo Kramer. Over the course of nine seasons, the gang of four goes through the minutiae of daily life with their own particular outlook on it, in what has been labeled a “show about nothing”.

While not every single episode is perfect and the series finale remains disappointing, I have to give props to the creators of this show, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, for creating one of those pieces of art that would leave an indelible mark on pop culture. Whether you are a master of your domain (not that there is anything wrong with that), this show is Gold, Jerry, Gold! If you don’t agree, well: No soup for you!

I remember a friend telling me that she did not like Seinfeld because the characters were not likeable. That is the point. Those people are selfish, self-centered, antisocial and mean. That being said, the actors playing the roles are so good that you cannot help learning to love the characters in spite of their flaws. Jerry Seinfeld was the weaker actor in the bunch, but he surrounded himself well, and it more than made up for his shortcomings.

Seinfeld has also given us a load of quirky and funny secondary characters, too many to name here.

For all these reasons, even though this show was not perfect, I have to give it full mark.

Rating: «««««

Abandoned (2015)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: John Laing

Cast: Dominic Purcell, Peter Feeney, Owen Black

Time: 86 minutes

Abandoned tells the true story of the trimaran, the Rose-Noëlle, that set sail from New Zealand in 1989 and was capsized by a large wave. It went on to drift for 119 days.

For some reason, this film never managed to capture my attention and I gave up on it soon after it started. The acting felt uninspired and nothing pulled me in to keep watching.

Rating: «

Savages (2012)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: Oliver Stones

Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek

Time: 130 minutes

Chon and Ben are two friends who cultivate pot together in Laguna Beach, Calfornia, while carrying on this three-way love relationship with the same girl, Ophelia. Their business is getting quite lucrative. When a Mexican drug cartel abducts Ophelia to get the two guys to cooperate, their world is turned upside down.

Based on the Don Winslow novel of the same name, this Oliver Stone film is carried on screen by a talented cast. Unfortunately, the story is a convoluted mess and the material given to the actors feels quite uninspired. I was bored by this one. There were a few good moments, but they were few and far between.

Rating: ««