Nerd Pride Radio

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) - streaming on Netflix

A marine (Robert Mitchum) and a nun (Deborah Kerr) become stranded together on a tiny South Pacific island during WWII. I thought it was a really good movie, really well acted and intense, suspenseful, but I'm not sure what to think about it otherwise. Was it a surprisingly enlightened and moral study of human obligations and relationships? Maybe so. I don't know. Jury's out. But it's worth seeing and I had never seen it. The basic dilemma of the movie is also difficult for me to wrap my mind around because Robert Mitchum is shockingly beautiful and I'm not a nun.

Salt and Fire

As Nick Allen put it succinctly, ""Salt and Fire” is what happens when a great director makes a very bad film." Werner Herzog is the director. He perhaps went to Uturunku and Salar de Uyuni, the huge volcano and huge salt flats in Bolivia, and was moved to make a film in which they loom large. This came out instead. You should look up some nice articles with pictures, if you'd like to observe these things, but don't watch the movie unless you're trapped somewhere with endless hours to kill.

Despicable Me

The original, because I somehow never managed to see it. A little slower and less awesome than I had expected, but good overall.

mother!

I don't want to post an actual review here because I feel like this movie should be seen cold. That said, I'll just say this: legitimately one of the most batshit insane films I've ever seen. Has to be seen to be believed.

WIND RIVER

The murder of a teenage native american prompts a hunter and FBI agent to team up.

Yo this movie is just awesome, same writer as HELL OR HIGH WATER which is another fav of mine, just fantastic crime drama. I need more movies like this in my life.

Just saw Kingsman: The Golden Circle. I enjoyed it, but my favorite moments are mostly spoilers. It's a decent continuation of the first movie, so if you liked the first one, you'll like this. Saw it in IMAX, which I haven't done in forever. Villain is goofy with a plan that I almost root for.

IT

I don't know what was better. The movie or when I came home to find that the maternal units decided to give me some gifts. The paper boat "S.S. Jeffrey" on the stairs, the red balloon directly in my face when I opened the door to my room, and the new version Pennywise mask now covering the head of one my Scoobies staring at me from my bed.

The movie was fantastic. The Dark Tower folks needed to take notes on this one. So did Kubrick for the Shining.

Recently saw Suicide Squad. It was not as good as Rogue One, which was ok.
A couple of ok scenes stapled together in an incoherent fashion. The lighting was always so dark - were they trying to say "We're so edgy and grim, just like Batman" or "Yea, we know our cgi is subpar" ?

Saw two incredibly different movies recently. One was Gaga's Five Foot Two documentary. In it we learn that she thinks performing at the Superbowl halftime was a really big deal she may never be able to top. Her heart has been broken three times and she suffers various physical ailments as well. We learn about how the Joanne album and song are written in memory of her aunt who died of lupus. It's a truly beautiful and touching part of the story, but then, her grandmother advised Gaga not to become maudlin about it and I agree. Many times she talks about how she's not a "girl" now but a "woman", as if she's trying to impress upon herself the truth of the claim. Huh. I like Gaga a lot but this movie was too much even for me. Lovely slow version of Bad Romance with piano in the middle, however.

Then I watched a movie called Bright Star. I lived through it, which is how you know that watching it didn't actually kill me, but friends, . It's a true story about John Keats and Fanny Brawne, and if you recall that Keats died tragically at 25, and add to this he that died while separated from Fanny for reasons that, at the very least, were more than a bit unhappy for Fanny and probably as unhappy for him too... well, you can see how it went. The casting was also perfect; I would not have thought of Abbie Cornish as Fanny but she was brilliant, and the guy who plays Keats is the most heart-rendingly forlorn but lovely person. Many of the poems are woven into the screenplay, sometimes recited by one or another character in a way that brings them to life especially well. So you're not merely watching a movie but having a poetry class as well, and Keats is worth it. Jane Campion made this film, thus redeeming herself and her whole aesthetic from The Piano. Jane, you've been washed clean and you're a genius. However, you nearly killed me and I had difficulty getting up and functioning again at all, but I have done it - powers, etc. 98 stars, all the stars, bright, dim, and otherwise.

Added clips; double-posted like an idiot.

Exorcist III
Tis the season and I always try to find some horror films my eyes have never watched before during this most lovely time of the year. Exorcist III stars George C Scott as a burned out police chief who is also best friends with a priest. So of course it goes without saying that this film is NO classic like Exorcist, BUT BUT BUT, it is a good horror film with some decent chills to be found and some great gore moments. Very much worth checking out

Patton Oswalt - Annihallation
Title came true. I am a puddle.