Cold Storage (2026)

A highly infectious parasitic fungus comes down from space and is contained in an underground cold storage facility where it slowly continues to spread and wreak more havoc. It looks like a generic horror comedy on the outside, though it contains slightly more substance than your usual fodder. While it starts out fully engrossing, it quickly goes downhill from there. I didn't find the chemistry between the leads very believable, and Liam Neeson is mostly wasted here. It does go full Troma at a certain point, but I was over it by then.

2 treads out of 5

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE [1996]

Brian De Palma directs Little Boy Cruise in the first installment of the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise, based upon the television series.
Framed for the murder of several of his teammates and disloyalty to the IMF, agent Ethan Hunt hunt down the real traitor without the help of his agency.
The 90's had a field day with adapting television shows into films and very few made a successful transition.  Still going strong 20 years later, the M:I franchise is obviously one of the few exceptions.  Originally criticized for being too complicated, the film was a stepping stone for brainier summer blockbusters and allows it to stand the test of time.  De Palma's direction isn't his best but it doesn't mean he's phoned it in, in fact it's filled with all sorts of interesting camera-work, well executed moments of tension and a playful wit that still reflects back to his love for Hitchcock.

3 beads of sweat out of 5

FOXCATCHER [2014]

Director Bennett Miller really lays down the grim and dreary something fierce in his latest biographical drama, Foxcatcher.
Following the story of multimillionaire whackjob John E. du Pont who obsessively finances an Olympic wrestling team to give him a feeling of some sort of significance, the film leads us down some dark passageways.  Funnyman Steve Carell is shockingly very, very creepy as du Pont, so much that it'll be hard to look at him the same again, but one should take note of some very solid performances from Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as well.  It's a quiet, and often distantly slow-paced but rewards with afterthoughts and emotions that haunt, bewilder and disturb for days afterwards.  A chilling character study, so exquisitely shot and unravelled, that you don't realize has dug it's nails deep under your skin until the end credits have long past rolling.

4 heavy duty weight loss programs out of 5

The Riddle (2007)

A lazily unfolding mystery about an unpublished manuscript by Charles Dickens. It’s an odd merger of past and present, with a fourth wall breaking monologue from a bygone era having relevance to a modern day murder. The result is like a pilot episode of a series that had never any hope of being picked up. A fastidious rewrite (or three), some recasting and an increase in the budget could've turned it into something uniquely entertaining, because there's a genuinely interesting story there, but as it is now it’s watered down and lacks impetus.

2 pieces of life out of 5

THE BUTLER [2013]

With it's huge cast of big names, politically historical subject material and more calculated dramatic moments you can shake your fist at, it seems Lee Daniels made The Butler to be scream "give me an Oscar".
Forest Whitaker turns in a well-rounded thoughtful performance as do all his co-stars but unfortunately the film itself seems to make all it's points with neon signs never really going for subtly or grace.  Uneven storytelling and predictability prevent it from becoming the timeless classic it wants to be.
It's not a bad film but after awhile you tire of it trying to be too good.

3 JFK neckties out of 5

Wilde (1997)

The 19th Century's quintessential bender, Oscar Wilde, deserved no one less than the 20th Century's most fabulously intelligent bender to play him onscreen. It's a good thing Stephen Fry can act, because it's the role he was born to play. Wilde enjoyed showing the world how abhorrent their ignorance was, and he was proved right by their reaction to his 'private' life. The film documents that side of him, including his fame and his fall, and doesn't shy away from the naked truth.
If you're not familiar with Oscar's work, then you may want to proceed with caution because there are some spoilers - it gives away the ending of both The Picture of Dorian Grey and The Importance of Being Earnest.

3½ frivolously serious wild flowers out of 5

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ROSALIND LEIGH [2012]

From Rue Morgue magazine founder, Rodrigo Gudiño comes this stylish quiet little ghost story, The Last Will And Testament Of Rosalind Leigh.
It's shot and lit with creepy precision, edited with a slow but invigorating pace and hauntingly narrated by Vanessa Redgrave.  Unfortunately the film itself fails to muster up much interest with it's tendency to not really go anywhere and when it does it seems to be trailing behind a dead snail.  I love me some slow-burning storytelling but this is just ridiculous.

2 angel eyes out of 5

Anonymous (2011)

What a piece of garbage. The trailer had me hyped because I thought it was going to be some sort of mystery-of-the-ages thing like with The Da Vinci Code, but it was just a load of fabricated nonsense. Yes, its plot is entirely plausible, but that doesn't make it any less snoozeworthy. Maybe I just don't like "historical" dramas. One long, boring piece of quasi-entertainment that I do not soon plan to revisit.

1 nom de plume out of 5

The Devils (1971)

Violent, offensive, sexual and blasphemous - all the good things all in one place. Plus, Ollie Reed! Yes, he was maybe a useless drunk in real life, but he could play a bastard onscreen better than anyone of his era. He delivers his lines with a Shakespearean feather in his cap.
Many films mistake shock value for quality; The Devils has both.
Perfect Sunday viewing. Deserves its place in my top 100.

4½ finger frenzied nuns out of 5