Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995)

These days, the only thing that powers me through each miserable day after another is nostalgia. The endless search to hold onto what makes me feel most like myself. That's all that means anything anymore in my broken little brain. I have no sense of objectivity left at this point, but who gives a shit?

This is a coming of age adventure tale which feels like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer transposed to modern times. Set in 1980, a city girl moves out to the sticks where she befriends a tomboy and they set out in search of mythic treasure. Two kids going off on an adventure together; what could be better? 

As a kid, I wanted nothing more than for Anna Chlumsky and Christina Ricci to be my friends. No, it never happened, and the film is not quite as amazing as I remember, but it does capture that feeling of youth and innocence long past.

3 reflections out of 5

The Curse (1987)

With a less than enthusiastic writer and director, this film based on H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space never got out of the box. It does closely follow certain events from the source material such as a mysterious meteorite landing near a farm, the subsequent bountiful yet putrid harvest and its catastrophic effects on the farm handlers. But as most HPL adaptations turn out, it never truly captures the essence nor the impact of the descriptive passages in the story. In unsuccessful attempts to frighten the audience with ominous music over scenes of characters drinking the tainted water supply and the degradation of the livestock, it only creates a stale boredom in its stead. The poorly handled ending leaves much to be desired in both logic and fascination.

1 whoring wife out of 5

Firestarter (1984)

A young Drew Barrymore is the titular starter of fires in this adaptation of a Stephen King novel. She’s the product of a union between two government test subjects and has inherited some unusual traits that make her a danger to herself and to the officials that want her in custody.
It resembles an early 80’s Cronenberg film, which was both a plus and a handicap because it filled me with hope that it could match his pacing but left me even more disappointed than I may have been normally when that didn't happen. It begins to fall apart in the second act and fails to get it back on track again before culminating in a rather dodgy ending.

2 fireballs out of 5