Credit: Tippi Hedren book "The Cats of Shambala"
1) Aniara, Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, 2018 I came across this movie very randomly on reddit. The plot sounded interesting and I found it in my HBO Max account. I thought - Iet’s give this movie 30 minutes. I have a test where if I’m not sure about a movie, I’ll give it 30 minutes and if it doesn’t have my rapt attention in 30 minutes, I shut it off. This movie kept my attention for the entire time and now, months later, I still can’t stop thinking about it. This is one of the most unique, realistic, and depressing movies I’ve ever seen. It takes place in the future where Earth is ravaged and people are traveling to Mars to live. This plot is about a group of people on a luxurious spaceship traveling from Earth to Mars in three weeks. The spaceship is about 3 miles long and 0.5 miles wide. The starting population is 8000 people. But a few days into the journey, random space debris hits the spaceship, causing it to eject all its fuel and veer off-course. The captain initially says it will take them 2 years to get back on track but that ends up becoming 6 million years. The movie focuses on how these 8000 people deal with living in this “floating sarcophagi.” What I appreciated most about this movie was how realistic it was. I saw parts of myself in both the main character, the Mimarobe, and in her partner, Isagel. What really broke my heart was the journey the Mimarobe goes through. She starts off the journey alone, develops the relationship with Isagel, she is happy, they have a child, but her life ends in utter despair 24 years later as one of the few remaining survivors starving to death. The scene that stands out to me the most is 10 years in, after Isagel and the baby are gone, when she gets her medal from the captain. You can tell she doesn’t care. She goes back to her room, throws it on the floor, and collapses on her bed. The algae food and water supply are slowly contaminating in the background. It kind of reminded me of myself during a period of time when I was not feeling great. But the difference is that I was able to remove myself from the situation and become happy again whereas the Mimarobe was stuck there until the sweet release of death. This movie does NOT hold back on anything. Whenever you watch space movies about people going to Mars, it’s always a joyous adventure or a horror movie where aliens try to kill you. There’s never a “normal” movie exploring how normal people would react in a situation like this. Aniara is a masterpiece. I looked up the 2 co-directors (Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja) and found it disappointing that they didn’t get opportunities to direct other feature length movies shortly after. Hopefully things change for them because I can’t wait to see what they do next. 2) Mare of Easttown, Craig Zobel, 2021 This show is SO SO SO GOOD. It’s one of those shows that everyone wouldn’t shut up again and I finally thought, Okay, I’ll give it a go. I was SO hooked on it since the very first episode. Kate Winslet is spectacular as always and the rest of the cast is very strong. I like true crime stories and while I feel like this plot really did ask us to suspend our disbelief, it was very entertaining. I really, REALLY hope they have a second season!!!! I also want to note one thing. Kate Winslet looks like a totally normal woman in this show with a normal face and normal hair (if anything, she wore a wig to make her hair seem more natural looking). I kept thinking, “That’s how I look and dress every day!”I really appreciated it. And that’s all I’m going to say. 3) Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Marielle Heller, 2018 I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. The plot is pretty basic but Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant are SO great!I I still see Melissa McCarthy as Sookie from Gilmore Girls so I wasn’t sure what to expect. This is one of those movies where the performances completely elevate the movie and make it spectacular. It's darkly hilarious and touching. The last scene between the two made me laugh. The tone of a movie like this is hard to achieve. It’s basically a movie about 2 characters who commit crime. (Are they really criminals though? Because the people who buy her manuscripts sell it for even more money even when they know they’re fake). But you like them and can’t stop laughing throughout the film. 4) Citizen X, Chris Gerolmo, 1995 This movie is really, REALLY good. It’s about a serial killer in Soviet Russia. That tagline didn’t capture my attention, I thought it would be a boring Russian procedural. But it’s actually a very well-cast movie with a terrific plot that moves along at a good pace. Donald Sutherland is always so great in whatever he is in (may be rest in peace). From what I can tell, the director Chris Gerolmo stayed true to the source material and it is uncomfortable knowing just how much the serial killer got away with due to the bureaucracies in place. 5) Rosemary’s Baby, Roman Polanski, 1968 Who hasn’t watched this by now?? We revisited this movie and I am always reminded about just how good it is. Their apartment building (modeled after The Dakota in NYC) is a character in itself. Ever since I got involved in real estate stuff, I pay a lot of attention now to how homes looked in different eras. I reread the Ira Levin book again after watching it. There are so many movies after that have copied this exact plot but they’re not good. Rosemary’s Baby is very basic at the end of the day. You don’t actually see anything. It’s the performances that make it so good. I was very excited to watch Apt 7A which also came out earlier this year but the reviews have been unfortunately not great as it appears to be a direct copy of Rosemary’s Baby with bad CGI. Some movies have that magic and others just don’t. 6) The Sentinel, Michael Winner, 1977 Since we’re on the subject of supernatural horrors movies, let’s jump next into The Sentinel. I was truly surprised by how much I liked this movie. I thought it was going to be a poor quality Rosemary’s Baby mixed with The Omen ripoff. But this movie was surprisingly terrific! First of all, it has an extremely stacked cast. As we watched the opening credits, I start reading the actor names out loud “Jeff Goldblum? Beverly D'Angelo?? Christopher Walken?? Ava Gardner???? What kind of movie is this??” This movie came out in 1977 and all those names I read off (with the exception of Ava Gardner) were at the very beginning of their careers. I couldn’t believe how young Christopher Walken looked. He legitimately looked like he was still in college. Cristina Raines and Chris Sarandon are the two main leads. Cristina Raines is SO BEAUTIFUL. I thought she was also very good in her role. Chris Sarandon in this movie looks EXACTLY like one of my friends from college. I texted him after and said, “Did you know that in 1977, actor Chris Sarandon could have been your identical twin?” I loved the Brooklyn brownstone that Cristina Raines lived in. This Brooklyn brownstone is still standing and looks identical to the way it was in the movie. I’ll be stopping by the next time I’m in Brooklyn to take a look. 
This is the Brooklyn brownstone building from the movie. Credit: Google Maps
7) True Detective season 4, Issa López, 2024 I tried watching the first season of True Detective and was NOT a fan. I turned it off after watching 30 minutes of the first episode. It was very boring. I’ve been told the show gets better throughout the season but I didn’t feel like I would have the patience to get there. Season 4 was the opposite. It grabbed my attention very quickly in the first episode. I’m a big Jodie Foster fan! The show is very good. I don’t like supernatural shows because you can pretty much just film whatever you want with no coherent explanation for anything. Thankfully, this season has a decidedly non-supernatural reason for everything that happened. I truly didn’t expect that ending and thought it was so clever! Issa López wrote, produced, and directed season 4. She is SO talented and I’m very happy to hear that she was hired to develop the 5th season as well. I will DEFINITELY be watching that and hope she is able to have an incredibly long and successful career. 8) Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick, 2024 This is a movie that was just so-so to me but I found the story behind the movie to be even more interesting than the movie itself. Anna Kendrick has been very honest about a prior relationship that went bad and how that affected her. What was the most heartbreaking for me to hear was about the frozen embryos she created with this person (and the implication that she could no longer use them). I have a lot of thoughts about this but will not discuss them here. I just hope that Anna Kendrick is doing much better and finds a partner who is good to her. I personally don’t relate to what she went through exactly but relate to being in situations where you wish you were being treated better. Once I developed some self-esteem, I no longer found myself in those situations and met my partner M. If anyone needs me to give them a pep talk about this issue, I’m more than happy to do so. Life is significantly better when you’re in a relationship where you both genuinely love and care for each other. I also applaud Anna Kendrick for directing a feature length movie. It is A LOT OF WORK!!!!!! They apparently filmed everything in 24 days with very little money. You are truly running around like a crazy person for 24 days straight to get everything done on time and on budget. I’m excited to see what Kendrick directs next. 9) Angel Heart, Alan Parker, 1987 I’m a big Alan Parker fan, may he rest in peace. Not only was he a good director, but he was also an excellent writer with an extremely dry sense of humor. I watched Angel Heart a while ago and thought it was a decent thriller. It's basically a murder mystery set in New Orleans. We were in New Orleans earlier this year (I LOVE New Orleans and can’t wait to go back) and since we were on a New Orleans kick, decided to rewatch the movie. It's very good. Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro are really terrific. I can’t believe how handsome Mickey Rourke was when he was younger. The mood is dark and sinister. The soundtrack is great. You’ll almost certainly be surprised by the ending when Robert De Niro is revealed to be Lucifer himself. Alan Parker has a website where he writes longform essays about how he made his movies. I really liked his essay about filming Angel Heart. It sounds exhausting. I really don’t know how movie directors can deal with everything that goes on and then decide they want to do another one. 10) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Werner Herzog, 2009 Like I said previously, we were on a New Orleans kick and decided to watch this little known Nicholas Cage movie. It was bizarre but I really liked it!! Nicholas Cage is always a draw, you never know how crazy he will get. This is going to make me sound terrible but I couldn’t stop laughing during his scene in the nursing home. His hallucinations about the iguanas and literal “dancing souls” are just so out there but truly hilarious. I can’t even describe this movie properly. It’s technically supposed to be a crime drama but Nicholas Cage turns it into a comedy and it works! Btw, Nicholas Cage has many links to New Orleans. His pyramid tomb is there at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 and he used to own the LaLaurie Mansion, both of which we visited. 
We are at the Nicholas Cage pyramid tomb within St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
The LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans
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1) Cat’s Eye, Lewis Teague, 1985 Did you ever want to watch a movie where a cat fights a troll? Well, you’re in luck! This bizarre, slightly hallucinatory segment is featured in Cat’s Eye, an anthology horror thriller film. I liked the first one, Quitter’s Inc, the best. The short story is very sinister but this segment was such a funny black comedy. James Wood was surprisingly terrific and so YOUNG looking. Despite the questionable tactics Quitters Inc employs, you do have to admit that they are successful in changing behavior! Funny behind the scenes story. They apparently had 12 cats portraying the one cat in the movie. Cats are very food motivated so they would perform for food but once a cat ate, it stopped working and would fall asleep. And that’s when you brought out cat #2, #3, and so on. 2) The Iceman, Ariel Vromen, 2012 Michael Shannon plays alleged hitman Richard Kuklinski. I say alleged because much of what Richard Kuklinski claimed to have done is disputed. Michael Shannon is VERY very good but I was very surprised by how terrific Chris Evans was. I’ve always thought of him as a pretty boy actor with questionable talent but he is unrecognizable with his big flowing wig hair and sunglasses. He’s irascible and hilarious in the role, a complete departure from his Captain America persona. Despite the subject matter, I thought this movie was very entertaining and very well-done. It’s disappointing that director Ariel Vromen hasn’t been able to make follow up movies as good as The Iceman. This goes to show how hard it is for a movie to capture lightning in a bottle. The right elements (good cast, higher budget) may be available but it’s hard to replicate the magic you created earlier. 3) Six Against the Rock, Paul Wendkos, 1987 Everyone remembers the famous 1962 escape from Alcatraz featuring Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers but I think the 1946 battle of Alcatraz is a far more interesting story. I listened to the absolutely terrific Casefile podcast episode which covered this event and was very excited to learn they had made a movie out of it. The movie is just so-so but captured the events very well. I would encourage everyone to watch the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz as well. It’s also a good movie. Unfortunately, I do think the Morris and the Anglin brothers drowned and never made it to freedom. 4) Runaway Jury, Gary Fleder, 2003 I’m a big Gene Hackman fan and have liked most of the movies based on John Grisham novels. Runaway Jury was very good. It moves fast, the acting is super solid, and the Hackman / Hoffman bathroom scene is one of the best verbal sparring scenes I’ve ever seen. I think this would be a good scene for people to audition to. It’s a bit over the top at times but otherwise a very solid thriller. 5) Heat, Michael Mann, 1995 This is one of those movies that everyone says you have to watch and I’ve been putting it off for years. Michael Mann is talented but his movies are WAY TOO LONG and often too slow. If I were his editor, I’d cut out at least 30 minutes from each film. Heat was just right. It takes place in Los Angeles and as I’ve stated before, I have an unfair bias toward movies set in Los Angeles. The action scenes were great and all the actors were very, very good. What I probably loved most about the movie were the featured LA homes: a) Robert Deniro house on the beach b) Al Pacino “deadtech postmodernistic bullshit house” in Santa Monica c) Danny Trejo house on stilts - We went to visit the house. It was built in 1962. It survived the 1994 Northridge Earthquake so it’ll probably survive anything. 
6) Apocalypto, Mel Gibson, 2006 This is one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen. Ironically, it has no cars, just a bunch of people running around on foot. It’s very violent, doesn’t stop to take a breath, and will truly have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. 7) The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard, 2011 This movie consistently shows up on random lists of the best horror movies. Even though I love horror movies, I put off watching this because I don’t like 40 year old adults playing college teenagers who are constantly winking at the camera. But I was mistaken. The movie makes fun of horror movie stereotypes and has a highly unique and creative plot. I LOVED the movie monster montage at the end and would encourage you to watch it just for that alone. 8) Alien: Resurrection, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1997 This movie was highly entertaining. People always complain that it’s the worst Alien movie in the series but I’m not a fan of Oscar bait movies taking themselves too seriously. I like fun movies with action, horror, drama, gore, and humor. And this movie has it all! Sigourney is terrific and Ron Perlman is delightful as always. I’ll watch anything Perlman is in. The baby monster alien was SO CREEPY at the end, the action scenes are SO COOL, and I really wished they made more movies like this. It’s another example of movie magic. One cool note: Sigourney really did make that iconic basketball shot. According to IMDB trivia: Sigourney Weaver made the behind-the-back half-court basketball shot successfully after 3 weeks of basketball practice, tutored by a basketball coach. Her conversion rate during this time was 1 of over 6 shots, but the distance was much lower than it would be in the actual scene. When the day came to shoot the scene, director Jean-Pierre Jeunet wanted to have the ball dropped in from above, rather than wait for Weaver to sink the shot herself, which "would probably take about 200 takes." Weaver insisted she could get the shot in herself, and was allowed to do. Though it is commonly said that she sank the basket on her first attempt, it actually took her endless takes to complete the stunt. Jean-Pierre Juenet gave her one last try to sink the basket before they would give up and use CGI or a second ball. The very next take, Sigourney Weaver successfully managed the trick. Ron Perlman broke character and began smiling when he saw it, and people on the set started cheering. The editors looked at the shot, and decided there was "enough room to get the scissors in." Weaver was excited about making the shot, but Jeunet was concerned audiences would believe the shot to be faked due to the ball leaving the frame. Upon Weaver's insistence, he kept the shot as it was. Weaver described the miracle shot as "one of the best moments in her life", after her wedding day, and the birth of her daughter. 9) The Changeling, Peter Medak, 1980 This is a moody ghost story that also consistently shows up on random lists of the best horror movies. George C. Scott rents a mansion (not sure why he needs a house that big for just himself) and has to figure out what’s haunting the estate. The backstory of the ghost boy is very sad and you understand why he wants justice. There’s also an errant wheelchair that chases people around the house. Movies like this don’t get made today. There’s no gore nor over-the-top shocking scenes. Ironically, that makes the movie far more effective than what gets churned out today. 10) Wonderland, James Cox, 2003 Before anyone yells at me for including this in my list, I want to say that I find the adult industry elements of this story distasteful. However, I am a true crime aficionado and this movie is based on a very famous Los Angeles true crime story that took place not far away from where I live. (And you know how biased I am toward movies set in LA). There are a bunch of very famous people in the movie, all of whom are fantastic, despite how seemingly miscast they may seem. Val Kilmer, Lisa Kudrow, and Kate Bosworth are surprisingly terrific in this. I ultimately found the relationship between the Kudrow and Bosworth characters to be the most interesting and would have liked to see a movie about them. The movie is told from different perspectives and you don’t know exactly who to believe. The ending is abrupt and no conclusions are drawn. There’s a very well-written Rolling Stones article that talks about Holmes and his involvement in this event. Ultimately, I think this is a movie that would scare people AWAY from drugs and crime. Anyone watching it would think - I don’t want to get involved with this mess! 
To the 2 people who read my blog, you know that I’m obsessed with Sherry Lansing. I know everything about her, including the fact that she’s married to a movie director named William Friedkin. I didn’t know much about him other than the fact that he directed The Exorcist. For some reason, I listened to an interview he did at the New York Film Academy, which was surprisingly hilarious, and so I figured I should watch some of his movies. I did and now, Sorcerer and To Live and Die in LA are two of my favorite films.
I was particularly astonished by To Live and Die in LA. It’s a perfect action movie with a very surprising twist about 15 minutes before the final act, one of the best, most natural (no CGI) car chases I’ve ever seen, and a terrific soundtrack by Wang Chung. The cast is also amazing. 31-year-old William Petersen is DEVASTATINGLY handsome and Willem Dafoe looks impossibly young. M has the same big hair as William Petersen does in the movie and if he stands away at a distance and I squint, he kind of looks like William Petersen. Sorcerer was also terrific. The very tragic, twist ending is an appropriate finale. I know Friedkin wanted Steve McQueen in the lead role but Roy Scheider was really good in this as well. Also one note about The French Connection - young Gene Hackman is very cute!! I was shocked that Gene Hackman used to be young once. I only know him as an older actor. I then read Friedkin’s biography The Friedkin Connection. It’s terrific and I encourage any movie lover to read it. Friedkin has the most fascinating stories about how his movies were made and is a hilarious writer. He is also very honest about the extreme highs and lows he experienced in the movie industry and the many mistakes he made along the way. He seems very humbled by it all. My favorite section was when he talked about meeting Sherry and their life together. I’ve included some of my favorite quotes from his book. I hope I’m not asked to take these down. I want to show just how great his book was. Hopefully you enjoy reading these passages as much as I did. The opportunities Friedkin regrettably passed on: Pg. 1: An oversized manila envelope lay on my desk when I arrived at the production office of Cruising. I opened the envelope and pulled out acrylic and spray-painted works on paper, collages of faces and bodies with scrawled words and splashes of color in the style of graffiti. I found them amusing but not to my taste. A handwritten note accompanied them telling me how much the young artist Jean-Michel Basquiat admired my films and how pleased he would be if I would accept these early works as gifts. I threw them in the wastebasket and never acknowledged the note. A few years later, a Basquiat painting from that period sold at auction for 14 million dollars. At about the same time a demo recording was sent to me that contained rhythmic soul-disco tracks behind a high falsetto voice. The music was original but not something I appreciated. There was a handwritten note from the young recording artist, Prince, wondering if I’d consider doing a “music video” of one of his songs for the fledgling network called MTV. I didn’t respond. I passed up an ownership stake in Mike Tyson when he was first discovered by Cus D’Amato. I declined 1/3rd ownership of the Boston Celtics and the opportunity to be one of the producers of Star Wars. A funny story about the tree dynamite explosion scene in Sorcerer: Pg. 334: Marcel didn’t nearly have enough explosives to blow the tree. In desperation I called a friend in Queens, New York, known as “Marvin the Torch.” Marvin wasn’t his real name but a non de plume bestowed on him by Jimmy Breslin. But he was a “torch.” He blew up failing businesses for insurance money, “turning grocery stores into parking lots,” as he put it. In a room of a thousand men, he would have been among the last three you would suspect of being an arsonist. He was in the beauty supply business in Queens. We used to call his wife “Mrs. Torch.” When I called, she got on the phone. “Hello, Mrs. Torch,” I said. She wasn’t amused. I asked if I could speak to “Marvin.” “He doesn’t do that anymore,” she screamed at me. “This is for a movie, Mrs. T, it’s not for real.” When “Marvin” got on the phone, I explained the problem, and he came down to the Dominican Republic three days later. He arrived with two suitcases of flammable “beauty supplies” and the next morning blew the tree to smithereens. Hitting rock bottom and meeting Sherry Lansing: Pg. 401: I was 55 years old and hit bottom. I thought about what else I might do with my life. There have been successful filmmakers of my generation, before and since, who didn’t survive disasters like Rampage. They never directed another film. It was entirely possible the same fate awaited me. My personal life was also in shambles. I had been unhappily married and divorced three times; I had two young sons I dearly loved but professionally, I was the instrument of my own downfall. Pg. 402: One morning in mid-March 1991, I was on the San Diego Freeway heading south to Hollywood Park, the racetrack. My car phone rang. Tita Cahn was calling me to see if I would take her to an Oscar party. Her husband, Sammy, didn’t want to go. I wanted to go to the track, but there was something plaintive in her voice, and for some reason - the mystery of fate - I turned the car around. When Tita and I arrived, standing in front of me was a tall, beautiful brunette with a welcome smile. Frankly, the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. “Sherry, you know Billy Friedkin,” Tita said. “You’re much too young and cute to be Billy Friedkin,” the brunette said. “You’re much too young and beautiful to be Sherry Lansing,” I stammered. In that moment, the course of my life changed. Many of our friends thought our relationship wouldn’t work - she was one of the most sought-after women in Los Angeles, beautiful, elegant, and self-sufficient, while the arc of my career was on a downward curve - but after 3 months, we decided to get married. We both wanted a private ceremony, just the two of us. Pg. 408: As Sherry was becoming a legendary studio head, I was on a downward slide, but she never allowed my spirits to falter, always offering support, encouragement, and the deepest love I’ve ever known. It was an uphill climb to the bottom. I used to collect newspapers and magazine articles and make notes of personal experiences, with the idea of one day developing films from stories that interested me. Eventually stuff piled up in closets, gathering dust. A lot of it is still in my closet, a constant reminder of failed ambitions and broken dreams. I owned a 16 room apartment on Park Avenue, a house on Big Bear Lake, a condo in Snowmass, Colorado, and a house on Mulholland Drive in LA. With little income, I could no longer afford those extravagances, so Sherry and I moved to a small house in Bel Air. I also owned a Turner watercolor and a Corot oil, which had to go. 
DISCLAIMER: HIS POST CONTAINS MANY, MANY SPOILERS. STOP READING RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS.
1) Sorcerer, William Friedkin, 1977 Sorcerer is the best movie I've seen this year. It was directed by William Friedkin, the man married to my Single White Female Obsession, Sherry Lansing. Sorcerer is about four desperate men looking for a way out of their hellish existence. Unfortunately, there are no actual sorcerers, wizards, or magic in the movie. Steve McQueen was supposed to play the main role but he insisted that Friedkin give his then-wife Ali McGraw a producing credit which Friedkin said no to and Roy Scheider, who had just starred in Spielberg's Jaws and was a hot actor at the time, took his place. Friedkin often talks about how Scheider and other actors from his various movies were not his first choice but rather, his 4th, 5th, or 6th choice, but I thought Scheider did a terrific job. The ending is a tragic twist and the soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is AMAZING. The main theme pulsates throughout the film, keeping you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The movie is relentless and unforgiving. Filming in the jungle looked brutal and Friedkin said it was just that in reality. Sorcerer actually completely bombed at the box office when it was released in 1977 but has since been rediscovered and rightfully lauded. 2) Ozark, Bill Dubuque & Mark Williams, 2017 - 2022 Now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything And the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together It's Ozark This show is really, really good. Jason Bateman plays Michael Bluth, I mean, Marty Byrde, a man who moves his family from Chicago to the Ozarks to launder money for the Mexican drug cartel. They get involved with the locals and their various shenanigans as well. The casting is terrific. Jason Bateman is surprisingly good in this role. He’s a bit too snarky for me at times but is subdued and much more likable in this role. Laura Linney is amazing as always, and Esai Morales has got to be one of the most handsome men alive. I was mad when they killed off my boyfriend, Esai Morales, but his replacement, Janet McTeer, was so so good!!! She was terrifyingly effective as the cartel lawyer. I now understand why some actors get so much work after a certain role. I’ve never seen Breaking Bad but I hear these two shows are very similar. If you enjoyed Breaking Bad, you’ll definitely like Ozark! 3) Lord of War, Andrew Niccol, 2005 I watched this movie when it came out in 2005 and thought it was terrific. The whole Brittney Griner thing has been in the news recently and when they began talking about the prisoner swap with Viktor Bout, I was surprised to discovered that Cage's character was partially based on Bout. And so I decided to rewatch Lord of War. Cage plays a very successful arms dealer. The movie is about the American Dream in many ways. Cage’s character comes from nothing and rises to become an extremely successful man, albeit in a highly illegal and dangerous way. It’s very similar to Brian De Palma’s Scarface (1983). The screenplay is extremely well-written and Cage’s delivery is always pitch perfect. The movie is violent, deeply touching, and unusually hilarious. Ethan Hawke is very well-cast as Cage’s foe and Donald Sutherland has several blink and you’ll miss it voice cameos. Cage and Hawke’s conversation at the end is great. Cage may be evil but he’s a necessary evil. We all have a lofty, idealized view of what we would do and how we would behave but at the end of the day, the world is going to run in the way that it’s going to run. 4) The Platform, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, 2019 This is one of the most disturbing and unsettling movies I have ever seen in my life. The premise was bizarre and it has been on my list of things to watch for a while. I’m not going to talk about the moral messages behind the movie because so many reviewers have done so already. I’ll just discuss the things I liked: a) The acting was terrific. This movie is filled with Spanish actors that I’m not familiar with but they were all amazing. b) This movie was extremely well-shot given its limited budget. The director, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, was very smart in how he decided to film everything. The entire movie was basically filmed in one room and everyone wore the same clothes. There was obviously some use of CGI but it was limited and conveyed the appearance of the never-ending floors. When your budget is small, you really are forced to think creatively of how you want to film things and I thought Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia did a terrific job. c) The story was so creepy. In regards to how one would survive, I don’t think we should loudly proclaim what we would do / not do. No one knows how they would behave in a situation like this until they’re actually in it. I sincerely hope Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia gets more work after this. This movie really got under my skin and I still think about it many moons later. This was a very creative story filmed in a more than competent manner and I really hope Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia gets the chance to tell more stories. 5) My Cousin Vinny, Jonathan Lynn, 1992 Jonathan Lynn’s Clue (1985) is one of my favorite movies of all time. The one-liners are endless and I think it’s a PERFECT movie. I had always heard good things about My Cousin Vinny and when I saw that Jonathan Lynn had also directed this, knew that I had to watch it. My Cousin Vinny is hilarious from start to finish. Joe Pesci is always cast as a violent gangster but he’s also a very good comedic actor. The entire cast is great and this movie is just very, very funny. Similar to Clue, there is a lot of physical humor and the script is pitch perfect. 6) Prey, Dan Trachtenberg, 2022 I love LOVE the Predator movies. The Predator is one of my favorite movie monsters. The premise was interesting as it’s more of a prequel to the main movies so the Predator isn’t as advanced as the later iterations. I really liked the supportive brother-sister relationship, the action scenes were great, the soundtrack was very good, and the movie was overall, highly entertaining. One standout was Dakota Beavers, the actor who plays the brother. This was his first ever movie role and he was so terrific! Here’s hoping he has a long, successful career. 7) The Grey, Joe Carnahan, 2011 When I saw the trailer for this movie, I thought it was about Liam Neeson beating up wolves. That didn’t sound very interesting to watch. But it is a lot deeper than that, it’s about fighting for your life even when you don’t think there’s much to live for, and about facing your fears head on. I also personally like wolves, the animals themselves. They’re beautiful animals and their creepy howls remind you why they’re such a staple in horror movies. The ending was great, and I liked that it ended on an ambiguous note. 8) House of Gucci, Ridley Scott, 2021 Succession planning for a family business is very interesting to me. Freakanomics did a terrific podcast show about this a long time ago. I can’t find the link anymore but the main takeaway is - It’s not a good idea to hand your successful business to your children, especially if they have no experience, just because they’re your children. The ensuing results are not as good as handing it to someone who has a successful track record. That’s really what House of Gucci is about - the members of the Gucci family eventually bring about their own downfall. Given that this movie is based on real people, I want to be respectful of the Gucci family and note that I obviously don’t know them or what really went on behind the scenes. I think it’s often hard for wealthy, successful parents to teach their children the value of hard work. The children have never done any grunt work and feel entitled. I thought this movie demonstrated that well and my favorite scene was the one where Maurizio Gucci is pushed out of Gucci by Investcorp's leaders at the breakfast table. He views Domenico De Sole as a traitor (“She was right about you”) but Domenico De Sole was truly the right leader for Gucci as he brought the brand from near bankruptcy back to its lofty heights. I didn’t care much about the love story plot with Lady Gaga but she was quite good in this role. Everyone was very good, and I thought this movie was much better than the Getty movie Ridley Scott did, All the Money in the World (2017). 9) Celeste and Jesse Forever, Lee Toland Krieger, 2012 Romantic comedies are my least liked movie genre. I find them to be deeply unrealistic. I only watched Celeste and Jesse Forever because it takes place in Los Angeles and I am deeply, unfairly biased toward movies set in Los Angeles. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by how good this movie was. The premise is different than that of your typical romcom - Celeste and Jesse are getting a divorce but have a hard time letting go as they’ve been together since high school and still love each other. What was interesting about this movie is that Celeste realizes they’re not a good fit anymore and initiates the divorce. She’s grown up but he hasn’t. But she still loves him so much and has a hard time moving on. If you’ve been with someone for such a large part of your life, they become a part of you. I found the portrayal of the changes in their relationship and her confusion on how to move on to be highly realistic. Their split really is the best for everyone in the long run and Celeste slowly but surely comes around to see that. Ironically, this is not what I necessarily see in real life. The sunk cost fallacy is a very real thing in relationships but that’s an uncomfortable discussion for another time. The casting in this movie was so great!! Rashida Jones is one of the most beautiful women alive and radiates intelligence. Andy Samberg is not really my cup of tea but he is surprisingly subdued in this movie and came off well. Chris Messica is so cute and I just love everything he’s in. 10) Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Johannes Roberts, 2021 The original Resident Evil movies starring Milla Jovovich are some of my favorite action horror movies. She’s SO SO good in them. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is a reboot of the franchise and it’s pretty great! I legitimately don’t understand why it got such bad reviews. I’m really not sure what people are expecting when they watch a movie like this. It’s based on a video game. Surely they’re not expecting Oscar bait. The cast was great, the action was great, and there are some truly creepy scenes in the movie. I kept yelling “AHHHH!!!!” every time a zombie came on the screen (I'm an annoying person to watch a horror movie with) and at one point, M looked at me and asked me if I was going to be able to sleep that night. I am looking forward to the inevitable sequels! 11) Joel Schumacher movies I’ve been thinking a lot about Joel Schumacher recently and revisited some of his old interviews. He passed away two years ago in June 2020 but his movies live on forever. He's a particularly good interviewee, and I encourage any movie lover to listen to his interview below with Charlie Rose while promoting Batman Forever (1995). Schumacher has an incredibly interesting background. He grew up very poor, was “out on the streets as a young kid and made every mistake in the book” (his words). He had addictions to alcohol, drugs, and other vices. But when he turned 30, he decided to clean up his act, and go out to Hollywood. He started out making $200 / week as a costume designer, began to write his own scripts (after much encouragement from Woody Allen), and eventually became a very successful movie director. He is very well known for spotting talent and hiring famous actors at the very start of their careers when they were still unknowns (Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Colin Farrell, Matthew McConaughey, and more). I’ve never met Schumacher but he seems like he would have the most interesting stories to tell. From his interviews, he sounds quite thoughtful, open-minded, and highly articulate. There's one quote I really liked - “If you do not strive to be the best human being you can be, then you have no defense for privilege.” It reminds me of something David McCullough Jr. said at the 2012 Wellesley High School graduation “Be worthy of your advantages.” Schumacher talks a lot about how his life turned out to be so much more grand and amazing than anything he could have dreamed of when he was growing up. I think Schumacher is a good example of the manifestation of the American Dream. Having said all that, here’s a list of some of his best movies that I encourage all of you to check out. a) St. Elmo's Fire (1985) b) A Time to Kill (1996) c) Batman Forever (1995) d) Falling Down (1993) 
DISCLAIMER: HIS POST CONTAINS MANY, MANY SPOILERS. STOP READING RIGHT NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS. 1) Squid Game, Hwang Dong-hyuk, 2021 This show is terrific. It was so hyped up that I figured I’d be disappointed but I was very pleasantly surprised. It is highly entertaining and addicting to watch. I thought the first episode was a bit slow but we do need to establish all the characters and their backstories. After that, the show really ramps up. I thought about it and there’s no way I would have made it through all the games. I probably would have made it through Red Light, Green Light, and maybe even the Cookie Challenge but I never would have gotten through Tug of War unless I was lucky enough to be on a strong team. My survival through Marbles and Glass Panels would be very much based on luck. Unfortunately, there’s no way I would have made it through the final eponymous Squid Game as there is no way I’d win in a knife fight. I’m clumsy and have little upper body strength. My #1 favorite death was the one when player 212 (female con artist / semi-comic relief) pulls player 101 (the bully gangster with the face tattoo) to his death during the Glass Panel game. Deok-su, she said she’d kill you if you betrayed her. Weren’t you listening? The side story where Jun-Ho, the police officer who sneaks onto the island, and finds himself in the middle of an organ harvesting scheme, was super interesting. I’m very much looking forward to season 2 when we learn more about the Frontman, the VIPs, and the backstory of how the games came to be. The actors were also very well-cast. Below is live footage of me when I saw the salesman, played by Gong Yoo (he played the father in the terrifically fantastic zombie action thriller Train to Busan). 
I always like to read ahead and find out what’s going to happen so I knew that Player 1 was the mastermind behind all the games. I then carefully watched for all the clues showing that this was the case. Although I had many questions about the logistics of pulling off these games and didn’t believe that super rich people (the VIPs) would bet on other humans in such a manner, this really is a show where you have to suspend disbelief and just enjoy. Squid Game is really terrific and I highly encourage everyone to watch it. 2) Casino, Martin Scorsese, 1995 This movie is fantastic. I thought it was going to be some sort of mob movie but it is really so much more than that. Sharon Stone is very, very good. Her role really needed an actress who was not afraid to go crazy and look ugly. Her descent into madness was heartbreaking. Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci are also terrific but Sharon steals the show. Movie is a bit long but it moves fast and is highly entertaining. 3) Born Free, James Hill, 1966 I loved, loved, LOVED this movie so much. Anyone who knows me knows I never shut up about big cats. This is based on a true story about Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raised Elsa the Lioness, an orphaned lion cub, to adulthood, and released her into the wilderness of Kenya. Virginia McKenna, the actress who played Joy Adamson, later created a wonderful non-profit called the Born Free Foundation, an international wildlife charity that campaigns to "Keep Wildlife in the Wild". 4) The Girl, Julian Jarrold, 2012 I’m a big fan of Tippi Hedren due to her work with big cats at the Shambala Preserve. Before Shambala, Tippi was a very famous actress. She got her big break after being cast as the lead in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, The Birds. She later followed it up with Hitchcock’s Marnie. The Girl is about Hedren’s relationship with Hitchcock throughout the filming of both movies. Basically, he was a creep and sexually harassed / assaulted(??) her. We should keep in mind that this is all alleged behavior but there doesn’t appear to be any reason why Hedren would lie about this. If what Hedren said is true, I’m impressed that she didn't give in. She was the sole breadwinner of her family, a single mother, and there is an insane amount of competition in the film industry. She was easily replaceable. She and Hitchcock never worked again after those two films. I read Hedren’s biography Tippi: A Memoir, and she has had an incredibly full life. Not only was she a successful actress, but her daughter, Melanie Griffith, and granddaughter, Dakota Johnson, have followed in her footsteps, she founded the Shambala Preserve, and she was surprisingly instrumental in the development of Vietnamese-American nail salons in the US. However, I’m most impressed with her work at Shambala. She has given hundreds of big cats an amazing life. 5) Unorthodox, Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, 2020 This TV show is based on the hugely popular book “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” by Deborah Feldman. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet but I’ve listened to many of Feldman’s interviews and am so impressed with her poise, drive, and bravery. She is truly living her best life now in Berlin. I went through something similar a while ago. I was in a situation where I didn’t fit in at all and was quite unhappy. Once I left, my life improved dramatically. If I had known how much happier I would have been, I’d have left a lot sooner. My situation was nowhere as dramatic as what happened with Deborah but the happiness she felt after leaving and starting a new life was something I could relate to. The TV show does dramatize a few things but overall, it’s very good. Shira Haas is terrific as Esty. Everyone else was very good as well. I wish Deborah continued happiness and joy. 6) Predator 2, Stephen Hopkins, 1990 Predator 2 is such a fun joyride. I forgot how great it was. The first Predator with Schwarzenegger gets all the attention but this sequel is actually really good. It takes place in the late 1990s in a dystopian Los Angeles. Danny Glover is very effective, Bill Paxton is very funny, and I just, quite frankly, am biased toward movies set in Los Angeles. The best scene is probably when the Predator crashes an apt bathroom in DTLA and the resident gets a broom ready to beat him down. 7) A Fish Called Wanda, Charles Crichton, 1988 There are some movies that make me laugh out loud every time I watch them, no matter how many times I’ve watched them. Some that come to mind include Jonathan Lynn’s Clue, Woody Allen’s Love and Death, Tom Shadyac’s Liar Liar, and more. A Fish Called Wanda has joined that list. It’s a comedy heist film starring Jamie Lee Curtis, one of my favorite actresses, John Cleese, and many others. I love physical comedy and snappy dialogue. James Cameron said he hired Jamie for True Lies after watching her performance in this movie. What’s interesting about Jamie is that she started her career acting in horror flicks but was able to very successfully transition into comedic roles as well. Despite her very famous parents, Jamie has worked hard to establish a successful career of her own. You don’t necessarily see that with nepotism hires and it’s great to see that she’s an exception. 8) Jacob’s Ladder, Adrian Lyne, 1990 This movie consistently shows up in every “Best Horror Movies” list and there’s a reason for that. I finally watched it and it’s creepy as ****. The movie is about a Vietnam War veteran played by Tim Robbins who experiences some weird (to put it mildly) things after the war. This movie perhaps has the most frightening “descent into Hell” sequence I’ve ever seen, when he gets wheeled into the nightmare hospital. I’m not going to link to it because it’s really NSFW. Although you could view the ending as “It was all a dream??” type of ending, the movie is so visually powerful that you almost don’t mind. Tim Robbins was great and I was very impressed with Elizabeth Pena. It’s unfortunate that she didn’t have a bigger career, she’s a fantastic actress. There are some deleted scenes on the DVD that are even more freaky. I wish Lyne had included them in the movie. I’d highly recommend this movie. It will stick around in your mind. Those are really the best movies, the ones you don’t forget. 9) The Girl with All the Gifts, Colm McCarthy, 2016 This movie presented a very interesting twist on your typical zombie movie. I really like zombie movies so I do like to watch different interpretations of this subject. Most are forgettable but The Girl with All the Gifts was quite good. The cast, especially Sennia Nanua, the young actress who plays the eponymous character, is really terrific. The storyline is unique. The movie was entertaining and also had a lot of heart. I think that with zombie movies, it’s very important to root for the human characters. 10) Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder, 2021 I’m going to be upfront here: This movie was not that great. The trailer was good and I was SO EXCITED for this movie but it just wasn’t good. There are too many characters that you don’t care about and it has no heart. However, I loved the concept, the zombie tiger, and Tig Notaro replacing that gross guy who I will not be naming. I’ve gotten bad vibes from this actor for a long time and the stories that came out were not surprising. I’m glad Snyder decided to cut out all his scenes and replace him with Tig, someone significantly more appealing. The movie was done when Tig was cast so she just acted against a green screen by herself. I’m glad Synder and Netflix went this route. Now let’s have Tig replace some other people! |
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