This weird mix of drama and dark comedy or dark satire suffers from a lack of focus and direction. At the film's conclusion, its thematic intent is muddled, and that's not because it's subtle or complex, but because the script is incoherent. Character motivations aren't ambiguous, which could be interesting; they, too, are incoherent, or, at best, needlessly opaque. Nor does the movie earn its weirdness in the way Lynch and Cronenberg movies earn theirs. Adam Pearson and Sebastian Stan…
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Drive-Away Dolls 2024
Disappointing, given the writer/director. It's just not funny, clever, focused, or adventurous enough to warrant the investment of time. It can't seem to decide if it's a really unfunny sex comedy or a Coenesque comedy crime romp. You know that line in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles where Steve Martin tells John Candy, "Here's an idea. When you're telling those little stories, have a point"? That is this movie. A bunch of hyperbolically raunchy lines about sex acts and dildos aren't…
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Epitaph 2007
One of the three or four best and most beautiful ghost story movies ever made, and probably the most complex.
A very general spoiler ahead.
It took three viewings, including two back-to-back on the same night, for me to really understand what was going on across the three interrelated stories which constitute the plot of this movie. I finally figured out that there are three types of ghost stories unfolding within Epitaph. One involves ghosts which are actually nightmares (as…
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Empire of Passion 1978
Empire of Passion is another very good version of the classic Japanese kwaidan, or ghost story, about infidelity and revenge from beyond the grave.
While for me this movie seemed to get off to a shaky start due to some really gratuitous sexual content, once it settles into its story, it's clear this content has served an important purpose. The movie is like that, building slowly and gaining momentum, and joining its different parts (including camera work, editing, scoring, plot,…
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